No Salvation
by NicoleSalvatore1918
Summary: After her father's death, Mia Lockwood returns to Mystic Falls to find the town infested with vampires. Getting swept up in all the drama, Mia finds herself acquainted with the Original, Elijah. It's not long before Mia has to make a decision to side with a vampire she barely knows or the people she has known her whole life. Elijah/OC
1. The Return

**The Return**

"_Ladies and gentlemen,__welcome __to Richmond International Airport," _The high-pitched sound of the flight attendant's voice broke the silence on the plane._ "__Local time __is eight fifteen in the morning and the __temperature __is sixty-eight degrees." _Mia Lockwood pulled her headphones out of her ears and shoved them into the front zipper of her backpack that was at her feet. "_For your safety and comfort, please __remain seated_ _with you__**r **__seat belt fastened __until the Captain turns off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. This will indicate that we have parked at the gate and that it is safe for you to move about the air cabin." _Resting her head back against the headrest, Mia looked outside the plane's window and saw the airport as the plane started to approach the gate it was designated to. "_Please check around your seat for any __personal belongings__ you may have brought on board with you and please use caution when opening the __overhead bins__, as heavy articles may have shifted around during the flight. If you require __deplaning assistance__, please remain in your seat until all other passengers have deplaned. One of our crew members will then be pleased to assist you." _The panels on the wings adjusted themselves and shrank back, making the wings appear to be sleek once more. "_We remind you to please wait until you are inside the terminal to use any __electronic devices__, o__r to smoke in the designated areas." _

The plane came to a halt as it reached the terminal's jet bridge and the lights came on in the cabin. The signal came on and Mia unbuckled her seat belt along with all the others on the plane and grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder. She stood up and filed out into the walkway between the seats before walking towards the exit. She wasn't in a mood to help anyone right now. Mia didn't even want to be here but now that she was, there was no turning back.

"_On behalf of Delta Airlines and the entire crew, I'd like to __thank you __for joining us on this trip and we are looking forward to seeing you on board again in the near future. Have a nice stay!"_

Mia quickly passed everyone walking on the jet bridge and was the first to step foot in the airport. She kept her head down and let her long, curly brown hair cover her face. Brushing past people, Mia muttered apologizes to people every so often but never looked up to face them.

"Mia," a familiar voice rang out through the bustling airport.

Her head snapped up and she met the familiar pair of vibrant blue eyes. Mia's heartbeat stopped in her chest and she couldn't breathe for a moment. The tears that she had been holding back since she left San Francisco came back and slipped over her eyelids and she rushed towards the man who had his arms extended towards her. When she was a yard away from the familiar figure, she threw her only bag to the floor and jumped into his arms, letting the tears stream down her cheeks. One of her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders while the other wrapped around his neck and her fingers found their way into his dark curls.

One of his hands went around her torso while the other held the back of her head. "Hey, it's all going to be okay," he said in his deep voice, while holding Mia close to his body in a protective manner.

"How is it going to be okay, Mason?" Mia asked, while holding on to her uncle. "My dad, your brother, is dead. My father is _dead_," Mia sobbed. "He's just gone."

"Shh," her uncle, Mason, calmed her. "Come on. Let's get you home."

Mia nodded her head and pulled away from her uncle, wiping the tears from her cheeks. Mason reached down to the ground and picked up her backpack and held it in one hand as he extended his other for Mia to hold. She gave him a weak smile and clasped hands with him, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked out of the airport, to his 1982 Ford Bronco. The truck was old and rustic, but Mason refused to get a new one. Reaching the car, Mason threw Mia's backpack into the back hatch before opening the passenger side door for her. The twenty-four year old girl got into the passenger seat and shut the door behind her while Mason ran around the back to close the hatch. Taking a deep breath, Mia calmed down a little and curled up on the passenger seat, leaning her head on the cool window.

Opening the driver's side door, Mason jumped in and looked at her.

"You know, what happened in San Francisco—" Mia cut Mason off.

"I don't want to talk about that right now," Mia said. "The past is the past and I don't want to dive into it right now."

Her uncle nodded his head and put the key in the ignition, starting the truck.

_**No Salvation**_

Pulling into the gated driveway, Mia pulled her head from the window and sat up in the car, looking around the property. It seemed as if everyone from town was here for her father's wake. Mia looked up at the front door of the mansion that was open and saw Tyler standing in the threshold, greeting people with a dismal smile on his face. The sound of Mason's ancient engine must have caught his attention because Tyler turned to watch the truck pull in front of the house and stop. Mason cut the engine and shoved his keys in his pocket before getting out of the truck.

Mia took a deep breath, trying to steady the wave of emotions that were bubbling inside of her before she followed suit and exited the truck. She remained on the passenger side of the truck, looking up at her house. It was still the biggest house in all of Mystic Falls; that was for sure. The brick front brought back memories of Mia as a child when she would rough-house with the four year old Tyler and her father.

Tyler and Mia were always attached to the hip even though the two had separate mothers. Before Richard Lockwood ever married Carol Lockwood, he had been in love with a woman named Mary Reid. She was beautiful and very lively. She had long, brown, curly hair and high cheekbones. Her brown eyes were like pools of caramel that anyone could get lost in and her skin was lightly kissed by the sun. Mary and Richard were high school sweet hearts and they planned on spending the rest of their lives together.

One day, when Mary found out that she was pregnant, she packed a bag, took all her savings money and left for Miami, Florida, where she would live with her grandparents who would help her raise her child. Nine months later, little Mia Lockwood was born and she lived with her great-grandparents and mother. Mia was the spinning image of Mary.

When she was three, her great-grandparents and mother died and she was sent to live with her father, Richard Lockwood, who had married a woman named Carol. It was no secret that Carol didn't like Mia, but the little girl didn't really care since she was all her father worried about. Four years after Mia started living with the two, Carol became pregnant and nine months later, Tyler Lockwood became Mia's little brother.

"So the black sheep returns," the booming sound of Tyler's voice rang out, causing Mia to come back to reality. She looked up at the front porch and saw Tyler with his arms crossed over his chest and Mason standing on a step below Tyler.

The two went on to talk for a little bit before Mason pulled Tyler in for a hug, which the teenager reluctantly returned.

Deciding that she needed to do this now, Mia moved around the truck and walked up to the two Lockwoods who were hugging and cleared her throat. The two males pulled away and looked down at Mia who was staring up at Tyler with a small smile. No matter the circumstance, Mia would always be happy to see her little brother again.

"Mia!" Tyler shouted out before jumping down the stairs, throwing his arms around his older sister, pulling her close to him. Mia stood up on her tip-toes and wrapped her arms around her brother's hulking form. He had definitely filled out the last year since she had been gone. "God, I've missed you so much."

"I know, Ty," Mia breathed out, resting her head on Tyler's shoulder after watching Mason slip into the house. "I've missed you, too."

"It's been really tough with you gone," the teenager said, turning his head into his sister's neck.

Mia rubbed comforting circles into Tyler's back and nodded her head. "My time away wasn't exactly a trip in the park," she said. "I would much rather have been here with you and Dad."

Tyler pulled away from his older sister and motioned for her to follow him up the steps. "You should go see Mom."

Mia looked up and caught a glimpse of a familiar face disappearing into the house and she turned to Tyler.

"You know what? I'm actually going to go and see some of my friends. I don't really want to see Carol right now," Mia said. "I don't think I can deal with her at this moment."

Tyler nodded his head and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a squeeze before she slipped away from under his hand. Mia walked into the house and turned into the dining room where she saw the boy go.

Seeing the man with his shoulders hunched over, putting food on his plate, Mia reached her arm out and tapped him on the shoulder. Turning around, a smile appeared on the man's face and his blue eyes lit up.

"Mia?" the boy questioned.

"Hey, Mattie," Mia said with a smile before she was engulfed by the quarter back's big arms. Matt Donovan was always one of Mia's favorite out of Tyler's friends. He was so sweet and innocent even though they liked to mess around with her. Mia could never get mad at Matt.

Mia wrapped her arms around his shoulders and gave them a squeeze before dropping her arms from around his shoulders and stepping back. She took a second to look him over. His biceps were definitely bigger and his hair was a bit shorter than it was when she left last year. He still had his two little scars on his forehead that he got when he was eight. His eyes were crystal blue and he was still a good six inches taller than her. Noticing something white in the corner of her eye, she looked down at his hand and saw that it was in a cast.

"What happened?" she asked him, motioning down to his arm.

"A float fell down on my arm in the parade about a week ago," he explained as Mia cringed imagining the scene and pain. It was nothing compared to what she's been through before, but it is still pretty painful to think about. "The doctors would have taken it off earlier if Ty, Care, and I hadn't gotten into a car accident. Caroline ended up in the hospital but she made a very quick recovery and they're going to let her out tomorrow."

"Car accident?" Mia questioned, raising her voice a bit with her eyes bugging out of her head. "What car accident?"

Matt slightly winced at her tone. "Tyler was taking Caroline and I home and Tyler started freaking out, saying that there was some sound that was ringing in his ears. He started screaming and then he swerved off of the road."

"When did this happen?" she asked him.

"Two days ago," Matt said with a sad look in his eyes.

Mia nearly choked at his answer. "You mean the day my father died?"

Matt gave her a sad smile and nodded his head, looking down at the floor. Mia tried to wrap her head around the fact that she could have lost her little brother as well that night. She didn't want to think about what she would have done if she had lost the two most important men in her life.

"Well, I'm glad that you're okay," Mia said in a small voice, looking at Matt.

The football player looked up at her and nodded his head. "I'm sorry about your father," he apologized. "I know the pain that you're going through."

"Oh, Mattie," Mia said through a sob. She took a deep breath, steadying her nerves. "I'm sorry about Vicki. I'm sorry that I couldn't come out and help you through it."

Tears welled behind her eyes and she could see the tears forming in Matt's eyes. He nodded his head and took a deep breath, pushing the tears back.

"It's okay, Mia," Matt told her. "I understand that you had to take care of whatever it was you went to California for."

Guilt ran through her body as she nodded her head.

"Hey, Matt," the voice of Elena Gilbert rang out through the room.

Mia turned to see Elena next to a very handsome boy. But the second her eyes landed on the two, a feeling of uneasiness swept through her body. The boy had light brown hair that was spiked up and very sharp, yet beautiful facial features. His green eyes sparkled in the light and his tan skin looked flawless. The boy at Elena's side gave Mia a small smile. She didn't return the gesture however, she just looked back over at Elena and did a double take. She now had big, curly hair and tight, all black, form fitting clothes with heals on her feet instead of the jeans and simple tee-shirt she would usually wear with stick straight hair. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked Elena up and down once more to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

"Oh, my God, Elena," Mia spoke, motioning towards her. "What are you wearing? And why is your hair curly?" Mia turned to Matt and gave him a puzzled look. "What happened while I was gone?"

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Elena asked, looking at Mia with a subtle look of disgust in her eyes.

"Are you kidding me?" she asked.

"Elena," Matt said with a shocked tone. "It's Mia."

"Mia," Elena said with a voice of recognition. "Right. Sorry." She laughed. "I totally just forgot for a moment."

"Forgot me?" Mia asked in a skeptical tone. "Elena, I've been your baby-sitter since you were six years old."

"Sorry," she replied again, putting a hand up to her forehead. "I'm just having an off day."

"Off day alright," Mia muttered under her breath before flickering her eyes over to the boy next to Elena. "Who's this?"

"Oh, this is Stefan Salvatore," Elena said, giving him a sly smile. The boy just gave her a forced smile and then turned to face Mia once more.

"Nice to meet you," the boy said, sticking his hand out for her to shake. Mia reached out and shook his hand quickly before dropping it.

"Mia Lockwood."

"I'm sorry about your father," the boy, Stefan, said to Mia who gave him a sad smile and nodded her head.

Turning towards Matt, Mia gave him a small smile.

"I think I better go see Carol and tell her I'll be staying home for a while," she said before walking past the three teenagers in front of her.

When she was out of the room, Mia let out a breath and shook off the feeling of unease that radiated around Elena and Stefan. There was something different about Elena and that boy that she was with didn't seem like he was as good as he seemed to be. Something was off.

"Mia," the recognizable voice of Carol rang out through the foyer. The twenty-four year old stopped and turned to face her step-mother who was dressed in an elegant black dress with pearls around her throat. Putting a fake, but believable small smile on her face, Mia walked over to Carol and gave her a quick hug. She knew how much appearances meant to this woman and she wasn't about to test the waters right away with her. Carol was now in charge of the house and Mia wasn't going to get kicked out if she could help it.

"Carol," she responded, pulling away from the hug.

"I'm glad you could make it," she said.

Mia bit back the quip on the tip of her tongue and just nodded her head.

"How long will you be staying?" Carol asked under her breath.

"I was thinking indefinitely," Mia responded.

"Indefinitely?" Carol repeated, sending subtle daggers at the young girl in front of her. "Wonderful."

"I trust that you have left my room the way it was before I left?" she asked her step-mother who nodded in response. "Great." With that, Mia turned on her heels and walked out the front door, heading towards the left side of the porch. She hung her head once she found a comfortable stance, leaning against the railing.

Mia let out a frustrated sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. She rarely cried and yet somehow, in the past two days, she has cried more than she has her whole life. If life had a fast-forward button, Mia would press it right now and get over all the emotional turmoil.

"Looks like the whole town has turned out." The voice of Jenna Sommers caught Mia's attention and she looked up and saw the Gilbert clan coming towards the front door. Jeremy was the furthest away from Mia and he looked much better than the last time she saw him. He no longer had that shaggy, long hair that swept into his eyes. His clothes had improved from baggy graphic shirts and tight skinny jeans to a nice dress shirt and jeans that fit just right. He seemed like he had changed a lot.

Mia's eyes next moved to Elena Gilbert who she had seen not two minutes ago. Elena no longer had curly hair and tight, black clothes that showed off whatever assets she had. She now had her stick straight hair and a navy blue dress shirt over an olive camisole with denim skinny jeans on her legs.

"Yeah, well, he is—" Elena stopped talking and paused before continuing. "He _was_ the Mayor."

"Why don't they save it for the funeral?" Jeremy asked, as he, his sister, and his aunt walked up the steps.

"Jer, these people came to our parents' wake," Elena pointed out. "Be considerate."

"Yeah," Jenna agreed. "It's what people do. Like Elena said, the Lockwoods were here for us when we went through this."

Mia pushed herself off of the railing and walked over to the Gilberts.

"It'll be quick," Jenna continued. "We'll drop off the food and pay our respects and go. I don't know if I can stay around long. This must be a kick in the gut for Mia."

"In and out?" Mia asked, speaking up from the side of the group. The three jumped and turned to face her. "I hope you'll stick around a little longer."

"Mia," Jeremy spoke up, looking like he was embarrassed. "It's nice to see you again."

Mia looked at him and tried her best to hide the look of hurt that was trying to break out on her face. She didn't understand how he could say something like that when the Lockwoods were there for them when they lost their parents.

"Mia," Elena sang out. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

Mia furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head.

"I just saw you two minutes ago with that new boy, Stefan, I believe," Mia responded. "And your hair was big and curly and your clothes were… _different_, shall we say."

Elena gave her a strange look. "Um, no, I just pulled up to the house."

"Um, I don't think so," Mia said. "I just talked to you. Matt was there with us."

Elena stood as still as a statue before recognition dawned on her face and she nodded her head.

"Yeah, sorry," Elena said. "It must have slipped my mind."

Mia looked at her and was about to say something, but thought better of it and just let it go.

"Alright," Mia said before looking at Jenna who was smiling at her, holding a basket of muffins. "Jenna! I've missed you so much." Jenna turned to Jeremy and shoved the muffin basket into his arms before wrapping her arms around her best friend. Mia returned the embrace and clutched her friend close.

Jenna and Mia had become best friends the moment Mia moved to Mystic Falls with her father. They had sleepovers every weekend, shared clothes, carpooled, took vacations together, and even went to Whitmore College together. They had shared a dorm for the one year they were in college together, seeing as though there was a six year age gap between them and lived with each other for a year after college before Miranda and Grayson Gilbert died in a car accident and Jenna became Elena and Jeremy's sole guardian. And just a couple months after Jenna moved in with the two teenagers, Mia fled to California after a major complication arose.

The two girls pulled away from each other and shared a look that both said "I'm sorry" and "it's great to see you again".

Jenna took the muffin basket from Jeremy once more and smiled at her friend. "I'm going to go put these in the dining room and go talk to Carol. Then I'll take Jeremy back home and later tonight we can go out and get a drink or two," the strawberry blonde said. "I'll call you later when I'm coming to pick you up, okay?"

Mia nodded her hand and watched as Jenna ducked into the house. Jeremy followed suit, avoiding the awkward and tense conversation Mia and him are bound to have at one point or another.

"Huston, we have a problem," a deep voice said from behind Mia.

Jumping a little bit, Mia turned around and saw a man with dark hair and ice blue eyes. The moment he was in her gaze, the same feeling that Mia got when she first saw Elena and the boy Stefan returned. There was something about this man that was off.

"Who's this?" the man asked, motioning towards Mia.

"This is Mia Lockwood," Elena said, crossing her arms across her chest. "Tyler's older sister."

"Oh, okay," the man said, looking Mia up and down before moving his eyes to Elena. "We need to talk."

With that, he grabbed her arm gently and pulled her away from Mia. There was something going on with Elena and the two males she met today. She couldn't put her finger on what it was exactly but she knew that it wasn't good.

The sound of panting caught Mia's attention and she turned to see the flustered Bonnie Bennett come around the side of the porch and rush over to Elena. She looked more mature than she did when Mia had left. Bonnie had a simple black dress on with a purple shall around her shoulders and her hair was blown out, framing her face perfectly.

"Bonnie, are you okay?" Mia asked, worried for her brother's friend, stopping her before she could reach Elena who was conversing with the older man who swept her away.

The young girl looked up at Mia and nodded her head giving her a quick smile.

"Elena, I need to talk to you," she said before pulling herself away from Mia. She scurried over to the other side of the porch where Elena was and the three got into a whispering argument.

"Nice to see you, too, Bonnie," Mia said to herself as she watched the kids she used to babysit walk away.

Mia turned on her heel and slowly started to walk around the porch, crossing her arms over her chest. There was something going on with the group of teenagers, but Mia decided it was best to just leave it alone and not get dragged into it. If Mia had learned one thing from her teen years; it was drama. No matter what you do it's dramatic as a teenager. If someone looked at you the wrong way, World War III could possibly erupt. Walking along the side of the house, Mia came up on her father's study and stopped outside the door when she heard Tyler and Jeremy conversing.

"Today's been a big day of 'sorry's from people who really don't give a crap," her little brother mused out, looking down at the flask in his hand. Mia recognized it as the flask that her father would take a drink of whenever he felt stressed.

"I remember when my dad died, I had a house full of strangers telling me what a great guy he was," Jeremy said, before taking a pause. "Anyway, I know how hard all this is."

"Difference is, in your case, it was true," Tyler spat. "My dad was a _dick_." Raising the flask to his mouth, Tyler took a swig and looked down at the floor. Mia felt tears well up behind her eyes, realizing how hard Tyler was actually taking all of this.

"Yeah," the youngest Gilbert agreed. "Yeah, he was."

Mia's blood pressure shot through the ceiling when the words left Jeremy's mouth. Sure, Richard Lockwood did have his moments, but everyone else did, too. His father had a fair share of them. The little Gilbert wasn't in good graces with Mia, at the moment.

"I found this in his desk," Tyler spoke up, holding the flask out for Jeremy. Sensing his hesitation, the youngest Lockwood nodded his head towards the container of alcohol. "He won't mind, he's dead."

Jeremy took the flask out of his hands and brought it to his lips. "Yeah, you know what, sure." He took a sip. "Why not."

Feeling someone brush past her shoulder, Mia watched as Mason entered the room and approached the teenagers. "Hey, what's going on in here, Tyler?"

"Nothing," Tyler answered quickly. "Nothing."

Jeremy stood up from sitting on the edge of Mia's father's desk and looked around, trying to figure out how to get out of the situation.

"You got somewhere else to be?" Mason asked with a bit of ice in his voice, looking at Jeremy.

Nodding his head, the teenager handed the flask to Mason before motioning his thumb towards the door behind him. Turning around, he scattered out of the room and Mia's attention turned back to Tyler and Mason. Her brother was looking up at their uncle with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Mason took a drink from the flask and held the flask out to Mia who was behind him. Tyler's eyes flickered to her as she walked forward and grabbed the flask from Mason's hands. Looking down at the flask, she slowly brought it up to her lips and took the smallest sip before handing it back to Tyler who was staring up at her with saddened eyes.

Not knowing what to say about what she just witnessed, Mia walked out of the study, into the foyer where she passed by everyone and climbed the stairs, heading to her old room where she could be alone for a while.

_**No Salvation**_

Everyone from the wake had cleared out a couple of hours ago and Jenna had called Mia, telling her they would have to reschedule for another time. Apparently Jeremy fell down the stairs and hit his head, falling unconscious. Jenna was staying home to watch him along with Elena. Mia didn't understand why Jenna didn't take the boy to the hospital but she didn't think it was her place to say anything about Jenna's parenting. She knew that she was still learning the ropes.

Mia was up in her room, lying down on her bed with her hands clasped on her stomach, staring up at the ceiling. Just as she was getting comfortable, she heard the sound of a disgruntled cry and glass shattering. Mia shot up from her bed and ran down the stairs, heading towards the sound of multiple voices shouting. She appeared in the doorway of her father's study to see Carol standing behind the couch and Mason lying above Tyler, who was looking at his mother apologetically. Mia looked around to see what the shattering glass sound came from and saw everything that was originally on her father's desk, strewn across the floor of the study. Turning her head back to face her brother and uncle, she stared down at them with sorrow in her eyes. She knew this was Tyler's doing and she didn't blame him at all. Mia knew that her father wasn't as understanding with Tyler as he was with her. He had more pressure on his shoulders because he had to be the perfect son of Richard Lockwood.

Hearing the sound of heels clicking on the hardwood floor, she turned her head to see her step-mother leave the room and rush up the stairs.

"You need to cool down, Tyler," Mason said to his nephew, pulling Mia's attention back to the two Lockwood men on the floor.

"Mason, why don't you go check up on Carol?" Mia suggested.

Mason looked up at her and locked eyes with her and she could tell that he got the underlying message in her suggestion. Getting up from the ground, Mason dusted his hands off before walking out of the room, leaving the siblings alone.

Mia walked over to her father's desk and brushed her hand across the edge as she walked around it to sit in his worn, yet comfortable leather chair. Looking down at the desk beneath her fingertips, Mia fought back the tears that were pooling around her eye lids.

"You know, the day I left, the last thing he said to me was, 'Stop being afraid.' And the funny thing is that I don't think I've ever _not _been afraid, Tyler." Mia looked over to where her little brother was seated with his back against the couch. He had his arms resting on his knees and he was staring at the fire place.

Mia let out a long sigh before pushing herself out of her seat, walking over to her brother. When she reached him, she sank down next to him and pulled him closer to her.

"Tyler, you can't act out like that again," she told him. "You have to think about others and not just about yourself."

Her little brother hung his head and remained silent. Mia wrapped an arm around the seventeen year old's shoulder and rested her head on the shoulder closest to her while giving the other a squeeze. She moved her hand down to his back and rubbed circles at the top of his spine the way she used to when he was a little kid and would get scared from the monsters under his bed or from their father's anger flares.

The two remained silent, Mia silently soothing Tyler, until Mason joined them again in the study.

"Your mom's out, Ty," he said, earning the attention of the youngest Lockwood. Tyler nodded his head as Mason sat down across from the siblings, next to the fireplace. "I think she popped a couple pharmaceuticals."

"I didn't mean to freak her out," Tyler said, looking at his uncle. Mia moved her fingers up to the nape of his neck and ran her fingers through his hair. Tyler looked up at his sister and melted into her a bit, looking defeated, tired, and beat. "I don't know why I get like this."

Mia looked over at Mason and the two shared knowing glances before Mia spoke up. "It's the curse of being a Lockwood."

"How did you two get the chill genes?" Tyler asked, looking between Mason and Mia.

"We didn't," Mason said. "We've just learned to manage it better than most. The anger can make or break you, depending on how you let it affect you. Anger is a nasty thing."

"Dad suffered from it, Mason suffers from it, and I suffer from it," Mia chimed in. "We're just stuck with the hotheaded gene."

"I don't want to be like this anymore," Tyler sighed.

"None of us do," Mason told him. "That's why it's a curse, Tyler."

The young boy nodded his head and sighed before pushing himself off of the floor, making Mia drop her hands from him. He looked down at his sister and gave her a smile before leaving the study, going up the stairs. Once Mason was sure they were alone, he looked at Mia.

"Are you going to tell Tyler the real reason why you left?" he asked her.

"No," Mia answered quickly. "I'm not going to bring him into this. He's better off not getting sucked into the world of the supernatural. He's only seventeen and he has his whole life in front of him."

"He's going to find out one way or another that he is a werewolf at bay," Mason argued with her.

"Well, it's not going to be from me," Mia said before pushing herself off of the ground. She walked out of her father's study without a second glance and walked up the staircase, into her room where she shut the door behind her and collapsed on to the bed.

Mia knew she wouldn't tell Tyler what the actual family curse was until it was time for him to know. And she knew that moment would come soon but she was hopeful that it wouldn't ever come. There was too much on her plate right now and she didn't want to shove that all on Tyler. He was only a kid and it was Mia's job to look after her brother now.

With a heavy sigh, Mia curled up, not bothering to change out of her clothes and closed her eyes, letting the darkness overcome her.

* * *

**Hello! I hope you liked my first chapter. This story has been in my mind for a while and I finally finished the plans so here I am. (:**

**I hope you continue to stick around and see what I have in store for Mia Lockwood. I think this is going to be a good story so I hope you feel the same way! Feel free to PM me with any questions you have. It would be awesome if you could favorite, review, and/or follow this story. Thank you so much!**

**-NS1918**


	2. Brave New World

**Brave New World**

Running.

It's a bittersweet thing.

Running can make you feel free, like no one can catch you. But you can't run and sustain the feeling of freedom forever. There's a point when reality catches up to you and you are no longer free. You become a slave to your regular life once more.

Mia pushed herself to go faster. She pushed her feet off of the ground harder, making her strides become a bit longer, propelling herself further. Her feet were screaming at her to stop and her sides ached. The lungs in her chest yelled in protest with every sharp, demanding breath she took. As painful as it was, Mia relished in the feeling. Running made her feel alive – powerful. She loved the sound of the leaves crunching beneath her feet and the feel of the wind in her face and hair.

Beside her, Mason Lockwood clambered after her. They were neck and neck, fighting for the lead. Up ahead, the Lockwood's house came into view. Mason and Mia locked eyes and an unspoken challenge formed. The older Lockwood pushed his body harder, gaining a couple steps. Gritting her teeth, Mia pushed her body even further, making every muscle from her head to the tips of her toes groan in protest. Her heart hammered in her chest as she darted in front of Mason, gaining the lead. She didn't look back. She kept her focus forwards and when she finally reached the back patio steps, Mia collapsed to the grass in front of the steps and laughed breathily up at Mason who was hunched over on his knees.

"I let you win," he grumbled out, trying desperately to catch his breath.

The winded twenty-four year old scoffed and dismissed the sore loser. Mia focused on her breathing, slowly getting it under control. Everything was aching from their seven mile run. Mason and Mia had been awake since sunrise and around seven, they woke the sleeping Tyler and dragged him out the door with them. The teenager had fallen behind the two werewolves on the last mile. A couple minutes later, Tyler emerged from the tree line at the back of the pond and he jogged around, coming up to Mason and Mia. A thick layer of sweat claimed residence on his skin and he looked as if he was about to collapse just as Mia had done.

Mason nodded his head to the house and Tyler walked around the house towards the front, Mia and Mason following suit. Bursting through the front door, Tyler immediately walked over to the stair case and clutched it, putting all his weight on the banister. Mason plopped down on the velvet chair next to the door and tossed his head back. Mia stood with her hands on her hips and looked at the mirror in front of her.

Her hair that was piled in a bun on the top of her head had fallen out and was plastered to her sweaty skin. The sheer top that covered her bright pink sports bra clung to her abdomen, showing off her minimal curves.

"What was that, like seven?" the teenager asked the two, pulling Mia back to the conversation.

"Six," Mason corrected. "I don't count the last one. You crawled it," he pointed out.

"What?" Tyler asked, confused.

"I think Grandma Lockwood actually passed you in her walker," Mason laughed, acting out someone using a walker.

"Yeah, okay."

"It's true, Ty," Mia piped up. "It was pretty pitiful."

"Shoes off," Tyler commanded, not listening to the teasing. "Mud, my mom…" Tyler motioned his hand across his throat and Mason chuckled while Mia rolled her eyes. Using the tip of shoe, Mia stepped out of one and then did the same with the other before tossing her muddy sneakers on to the front porch by the railing.

"So all this anger and aggression you're talking about," Mason started. Mia turned her head and narrowed her eyes at him. She knew what he was doing. "Do you notice a difference when you exercise?"

Tyler scoffed. "Dude, I play three varsity sports. I work out four times a week and run three. I'm gonna say no."

"Do you have episodes?" Mason pressed. "I mean, what happens, exactly?"

Kicking his shoes off, Tyler grabbed the towel that was hanging out of his athletic shorts and wiped his hands off before using the back to mop up the sweat on his forehead. "Starts out normal. You get angry, typically over nothing." Tyler paused and furrowed his eyebrows together before he spoke again. "I'm an angry guy. You know, it just amplifies, and then I go off."

"You black out?" Mason questioned, flickering his eyes over to Mia who shook her head, telling him to stop. But the older Lockwood ignored her and turned back to Tyler, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah," he breathed out before grabbing a bottle of water, opening it. He took a sip and then closed the lid, throwing the bottle to his sister who caught it with ease. "It's like I go blind with rage."

Mia opened the bottle and downed half of it, moistening her dry mouth. She turned from the conversation and headed up the stairs.

"Is there a pattern?"

Mia stopped on the stairs, waiting for Tyler's answer.

"Like once a month? Only at night?" Mason prompted.

"All I know is I lose myself," her little brother answered. "You know? For that time I become something else. And I hate it."

After hearing Tyler's answer, Mia continued up the stairs but was stopped by him calling her name. Turning around, she looked down and saw her brother looking up at her expectantly.

"There's a carnival tonight at school. Wanna go?"

Mia nodded her head and gave him a smile which he kindly returned.

"I'm going to go take a shower and then we can go out for lunch, okay?" she suggested. Tyler nodded his head and Mia climbed the stairs. When she reached her room, she closed the door behind her and cursed under her breath, leaning against the door.

What was Mason thinking? Asking Tyler questions like that will only make him curious as to what is actually going on. If Mia were able to, she would storm downstairs and rip Mason a new one right this very moment. She didn't want her baby brother getting swept up into this world. If Mia had the chance, she would go back in time and make sure that she never went to that bar.

A shiver ran down her spine at the memory and she shook it off, dismissing the event.

The fact was, she couldn't go back and change what happened. But she could make sure that her brother never had to know the pain she felt every full moon.

Pushing herself off of the door, Mia stripped her clothes and threw them into the hamper before walking into the bathroom, turning the shower on.

_**No Salvation**_

"Tyler! I'm ready!" Mia called out from the foyer, slipping into her braided gladiator sandals. She dusted her hands on her black jeans that had rips at the knees and adjusted her floral print crop top. The holes had appeared in her jeans one night after she got into a fight with a man at a bar who groped her at his own will. Mia threw him down to the ground and beat the shit out of him. No one touched her like that.

"Tyler?" she called out.

A tense looking Mason emerged from the French doors that lead to her father's study. He froze momentarily when he looked up and saw her but then brushed past her, grabbing his keys from the table behind her.

"I'll be in the car," he said as he walked out the front door.

Mia stared at the Lockwood who made his way to his car, getting in and slamming the door shut. Turning back around, she saw her brother emerge from the study as well and furrowed her eyebrows. Tyler came over to her and looked outside, seeing Mason in his truck.

"What's going on?" Mia asked him.

"Mason was looking for some heirloom in dad's office," Tyler said. "I walked in to find him tearing through the drawers in his desk. And get this, he blew through his trust fund already."

Turning, Mia looked once more at the black sheep of the Lockwood family and narrowed her eyes. Something was going on with Mason and Mia was going to find out what it was.

"What was he looking for?" the twenty-four year old asked her brother, turning to face him once more.

"He said he was looking for a moonstone," Tyler told her. Mia tensed immediately knowing what Mason was looking for. "It's about the size of a hockey puck. Apparently Grandpa Lockwood gave it to Grandma Lockwood when they got married. Why he would want a stone that is several decades old is beyond me." Tyler shrugged his shoulders and looked down at his sister finally. His eyes widened as he stared at her. "You're wearing that?"

Mia rolled her eyes at her brother, pushing all thoughts of Mason to the back of her mind, and lightly smacked him on his bicep.

"Don't start. You know I hate it when Dad used to say that," she whined.

Tyler smirked and reached a hand up to her bun and pulled the hair out of the hair tie, making her long, brown locks cascade down her back. Mia let out a frustrated scream and threw a punch towards Tyler who ducked and dashed outside to the car. Mia ran after him, yelling. The teenager just laughed and jumped into the passenger seat, forcing Mia to get into the back. She let out a huff and crossed her arms over her chest.

"What happened?" Mason asked with a chuckle, looking at Mia through the rearview mirror.

Mia narrowed her eyes at him for more than one reason and shook her head. "Just drive."

_**No Salvation**_

_Ding!_

Cheers erupted around the small table and Mia let go of the boys hands, signaling that they could commence with the arm wrestling. Tyler and Mia had been at the table for the past half an hour and not once had Tyler been beaten by anyone – not even the wrestling coach could beat him. Mia was beaming, proud of her brother.

If there was one thing that you learned growing up in the Lockwood household, it was that weakness was never an option; physically or mentally. Their father had drilled that into their brains from an early age.

The boy that Tyler was currently up against was center on the varsity football team and star pitcher on the baseball team. He appeared to be as strong as Tyler and everyone thought this would be the guy to beat Tyler. But Mia knew he would be no competition for Tyler due to the werewolf gene harbored in his DNA. His supernatural strength secured his victory. The boy winced, trying to move Tyler's arm and the teenager even humored him for a second or two. But then an apologizing smile spread across the Lockwood's face and he pushed his opponent's arm to the table.

Mia cheered with the crowd behind her and squeezed her brother's arm, smiling at him.

The next challenger was Mason. Stepping out from the crowd, he gave his nephew a smirk.

"I bet I can take you," he said after removing his jacket, slinging it over his shoulder.

"Bring it on, surfer boy," Tyler teased.

The two clasped hands and Mia reached over, holding them, looking between the two. The bell rang and she let go of their hands instantly. She didn't know who would win this fight. Tyler had strength due to not only the dormant gene, but also the fact that he played three varsity sports that were very physically demanding. Mason however was a full-blown creature of the night with true supernatural strength.

Tyler put forth all his effort, wanting to take down his uncle quickly, but was met with resistance. Mason's face remained neutral and he just stared at Tyler, a small smile pulling its way on to his lips. Mia knew from that small expression that Mason had this fight.

Mason let Tyler believe he had the fight and started to put his hand down, but quickly pushed back on Tyler's arm and slammed it down on to the table, making the teenager wince after the loud _thud _rang through the air. Tyler pulled his arm to his chest and rubbed it for a second, looking at Mason with an uneasy expression.

"Is that it?" Mason asked over the cheers of the teenagers beside them. There was a grin on his face and Mia could tell that it pissed Tyler off.

The teenager looked down at the table, up at Mason, and over to Mia before he spoke up. "All right, he's the champ. Who wants to go next?"

There was silence for a moment and then a familiar voice spoke up from the opposite side of the school hallway. Mia looked over at the direction where the voice came over and saw Stefan with the other man she met at her father's wake. "Uh, Stefan wants a go."

Stefan turned to the dark haired male and murmured something before coming over. He gave Tyler and Mason a nod and smiled at Mia. She returned the gesture.

"Yeah, sure. I'll give it a shot," Stefan said as he positioned himself to arm wrestle.

"Go, Stef!" the man yelled out. "Get him, Stef!"

"My brother over there thinks I can beat you," Stefan said to Mason.

So the dark haired stranger was Stefan's brother? Mia looked from Stefan to his brother and then back again, not really seeing the resemblance. One must look like their mother and the other like their father.

Tyler laughed loudly at Stefan's comment and took Mia's spot, wanting to regulate this game. She backed up and let the men sort out their game.

"Your brother's wrong," Mason told him, overly confident.

The bell rang out and Mason and Stefan kept their arms upright. Mia furrowed her brow, watching the exchange, wondering why they weren't wrestling. Her eyes flickered up to Mason's face and she saw him wince. Finally their arms started to shake a bit, telling her that they were both putting effort into the match. This confused her even more. If neither of them were moving and Mason was actually trying, that means either Stefan is _very_ strong or there was something else playing into the game.

Mia watched the youngest Salvatore more closely. If he was able to hold his own with a werewolf, there had to be something about him that wasn't normal. Mia couldn't see anything out of the blue.

In the next moment, Mason slammed Stefan's hand down on the table just like he did with Tyler and Stefan backed away from the table. Seeing as Mason won, Mia decided that maybe Stefan was just a steroid user. But deep down she knew that wasn't the case.

"Oh!" Tyler yelled out, clapping Mason on the shoulder.

Stefan looked at Mia briefly and she eyed him cautiously before he walked away and headed back to his brother. Her eyes swept over to his brother and looked him up and down. His whole body radiated unseen tension and anger. There was something strange about the pair of brothers and Mia made a mental note to check them out after she dealt with Mason and his snooping.

"How about it, Mia?" Mason asked, pulling the girl out of her thoughts, back to the arm wrestling rink. She shook her head and walked over to Tyler.

"Who is that with Stefan?" she asked him, nodding over to the lockers.

Tyler looked over to the brothers who were staring back at them.

"That's Damon, Stefan's older brother," Tyler responded. "Why?"

"Just curious is all," Mia answered. Looking at the two Salvatores, a shiver ran down her spine. She was disturbed by the two and it confused her to no ends.

"Hey, you cold?" Tyler asked her, noticing her shiver. Mia looked up at her little brother and nodded her head. "Come on, let's go to the truck and get you a jacket," he said, grabbing Mia's wrist, dragging her behind him. Mia was grateful for the chance to get away from the brothers. Hopefully when they were out of sight, she would feel better and not feel the need to turn into Nancy Drew and figure out why they bothered her so much.

_**No Salvation**_

The two Lockwoods laughed as they walked into the parking lot. They had stopped to play a game and the jock who was working the booth wouldn't stop looking at Mia with lust filled eyes. She paid the boy to play the game and even though she lost and everyone around her saw, she told the boy she had won. He didn't even look back to make sure she was telling the truth, he just handed her a long string of tickets and licked his lips. It was disgusting but Mia was proud of herself for getting enough tickets to get a free cotton candy. As Tyler clutched his stomach and bent forward, he bumped shoulders with a tall, dark skinned man who had a pissed off expression on his face. Tyler quickly straightened up and turned to look at the man.

"Watch where you're going," Tyler said to the man.

This seemed to piss the man off even more. "You got a problem?" he challenged.

"Yeah, you walked right into me," Tyler responded.

"What are you going to do about it?"

Mia did a double take and looked at the man. Was he serious? Couldn't he just apologize and move on? As Mia looked at his face, an uneasy feeling bubbled within her stomach and she looked at him more carefully. His whole body radiated aggression, hostility, and violence but his eyes were pleading and looked confused. It looked as if his body was in control and not his mind.

"You're kidding, right?"

Mia turned to Tyler and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to stop, but Tyler just shrugged her hand off. Before Mia could speak again to try and pull Tyler away, the man lunged and shoved Tyler's shoulders.

"Hey," Mia shouted at the guy. But he didn't look at her.

"You better back off," the teenager warned, pushing Mia away from the two of them.

Once more, the tall man pushed Tyler backwards. Mia knew what was coming. Tyler was going to snap soon and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"You hit me again, I swear to God…" Tyler didn't need to finish his threat.

Mia stepped in between the man with her back to him and looked at her brother. "Let's just go."

Before she could pull him away, she felt two strong hands grab her shoulders and send her forward, crashing into Tyler's chest. Mia clutched his biceps and gathered herself before turning to look at the man with a look of shock.

_What the hell was that for?_

Tyler grabbed Mia's shoulder and pushed her gently to the side before the man punched Tyler in the jaw. When Tyler's head snapped back around, Mia saw pure rage in his eyes and she knew what was coming. Tyler threw all caution into the wind and lunged for the man, wrapping his arms around his torso, trying to push him to the ground. The man had a good stance, though, and countered Tyler's attack by forcing his weight back on the boy. Mia jumped to action and tried to bring the brawl to a halt but the males wouldn't back down from the fight.

"Hey! Tyler! Hey!" the voice of Mason called out loud. As much as Mia was distancing herself from Mason, she was glad to hear his voice.

The older Lockwood jumped into the brawl, and with the strength of both Mia and Mason, separated them. Mia pushed Tyler back with all her strength and kept him in place while Mason pushed the other guy so he stumbled back.

"What the hell, man?" Mason yelled, his anger flaring.

Mia silently prayed to whatever God might have been listening that Mason could maintain his temper and they would just move on and forget this ever happened.

She had no such luck.

The man walked forward into Mason's hand. The angered thirty year old wrapped his hand around the man's throat and forced him backwards, keeping him away from the siblings. Swatting Mason's hand away, the man threw a wild punch that made Mason stagger back, into a car whose alarm started to go off. Tyler pushed against Mia, itching to help, but she held him back, not wanting him to get caught up in the mess. With all of his weight, the man pushed Mason over the car and he fell to the concrete. Tyler jumped from around Mia and lunged at the opposing man.

Expecting his move, he grabbed Tyler in a head lock and threw him to the pavement much like he did to Mason. Mia let out a growl and threw herself at the man who threw her brother to the ground like a rag doll. She caught him unexpectedly and landed a punch to his gut, making him lurch forward. Before she could continue her assault, Mason jumped over them with his wolf reflexes, pulling the man's attention to him instead of the Lockwood girl, and landed in a crouch in front of Tyler.

"Your eyes," Tyler said loudly, startled by Mason's acrobatics.

Spinning around, Mia saw what Tyler was talking about. With the full moon right around the corner, Mason's wolf eyes were out and they were golden. Mia cursed and backed up as Mason drew his fist back and punched the man square in the jaw, sending him flying back into the concrete, yelling out loud.

Mason reached down to Tyler and held his hand out. Tyler clasped his hand and hauled himself up. The two turned to Mia quickly.

"Are you okay?" Tyler asked his sister, going over to her.

She nodded her head. "Go to the car. I'm going to go to the restroom real quick and then we can go home."

Mason nodded his head in agreement and pulled Tyler across the parking lot, towards the truck. Mia ran a hand through her hair and walked towards the school building, needing to get away from all the madness for a moment. She left the man curled up on the ground. He deserved it after all. On her way towards the building, she passed Stefan but ignored him, not in the mood for talking at the moment.

_**No Salvation**_

After splashing some cold water on her face and clearing her head, Mia headed back for the parking lot but stopped in her tracks when she heard yelling. Turning, she ran towards the sound of the agonizing screams and found the man who was attacking Carter getting attacked by a blonde haired girl who was crouching behind him possessively. The man's face was scrunched with pain. Mia, wanting to go over and help, found her legs rooted to the ground. She couldn't move.

When the girl stood up, she turned around and shoved the man back in the truck's bed and flipped her hair out of her face before diving back in. Mia's eyes widened, recognizing the girl attacking the man and horror struck her body.

Caroline Forbes.

The teenager had blood all over her face and her eyes weren't their normal light blue shade. They were dark and rings of red surrounded her iris. Veins protruded from the pale white flesh beneath her eyes and fangs were extending out of her gums.

Mia heard a chilling wail that shook her to the core and looked around for the source but came to realize after seeing no one around that the noise had come from her throat. The blonde haired demon pulled away from the man she was feeding from and turned to face Mia. Her stance was resembled a predator circling its prey and Mia soon realized that she was next.

Jumping down from the truck's bed, the demon inside of Caroline stalked towards Mia but the wolf couldn't move. She was motionless; her heart pounding in her chest, her heart beat caught in her ears. Before the evil that took form of Caroline Forbes could attack Mia, she was turned around in an instant, facing the opposite way. Flustered, Mia clutched her head from the quick movement and turned back around to see what or who was responsible for turning her.

Standing in front of her was a man clad in a black leather jacket, black jeans, black boots, and with a mop of black hair on his head. He looks as if he emerged out of the darkness. Looking him up and down once more, Mia noticed a wooden stake in his right hand. Her eyes widened at the sight of the stake and she staggered back, confused, shocked, and most of all scared.

What was he going to do with the stake?

"_Tsk, tsk, tsk, _Caroline," the man scolded and Mia instantly recognized the voice. Damon Salvatore was the man who had turned her away from the demon taking Caroline's form. "Attacking innocents?"

The blonde with blood all over her face hissed at the man in front of Mia and stood, ready to attack him. Just as Mia was trying to find her voice to warn him to run, he lifted his hand and started to bring it down towards the girl's chest. Before the stake could pierce her chest, there was a _whoosh _and the stake was knocked from Damon's hand to the ground. Mia looked from the stake to Damon and saw Stefan in front of Caroline with Elena running up behind the blonde.

"Stefan!" Damon groaned.

Before the younger Salvatore could respond to his brother, the blonde demon hissed and pushed Elena away from her harshly.

"Get away from me!" she screamed out, sounding exactly like Caroline. Although it couldn't be because Caroline Forbes wasn't a demon. "You killed me."

"No, no, no, no, Caroline," Elena said in a slightly panicked tone. "That wasn't me." Caroline shook her head vigorously. "You know that. That was Katherine."

Mia was confused.

Who was Katherine and what was going on with these teenagers?

"No!" the blonde demon screamed for what seemed like the tenth time. "Then why does she look like you? Why – Why did she do this to me?" The demon clutched her cream jacket closer around her and started to sob uncontrollably, going from possessed to defensive, then to distraught in less than a minute.

"Stefan, we gotta get her inside," Elena said, spinning to face the younger Salvatore who was still watching his older brother.

"It's all right, Caroline," Stefan said, flickering his eyes from Damon to Mia. Seeing the Lockwood girl frozen in fear, he paused for a moment before turning to the blonde who had blood all over her face. He extended his hand to her and she took it. "Come with me."

"She will die," Damon spoke up. "It's just a matter of time."

"Yeah, maybe so, but it's not gonna happen tonight," Stefan told his brother in a protective tone of voice.

"Oh, yeah, it is," Damon said menacingly. One second, Damon was standing in front of Mia and the stake was right next to her and in the next second, Damon was in front of Elena who had her back against Caroline and Stefan behind the blonde.

Elena gasped in shock and stared at the stake in Damon's hand and looked at the older brother frantically. "Damon, she's my friend," she tried to reason with him.

Damon stood still with his hand still raised for a minute before dropping his hand. Staring at the Gilbert girl, he pointed at her. "Whatever happens, it's on you."

Damon disappeared into thin air, leaving Mia bewildered, staring at the teenagers, waiting for something to happen so she could move from the spot she seemed to be rooted to.

"We've gotta get her cleaned up," Elena said to Stefan who turned with Caroline in his arms. The three teens froze and Mia looked past them and saw an angry Bonnie Bennett.

"Caroline?" she asked. "You're not. You can't – you can't be."

Bonnie stormed over to the blonde and grabbed her wrist, halting. She looked up at the demon with a terrified look and shook her head before brushing past her to see the dead body in the back of the truck bed.

"Bonnie," Caroline sobbed.

Elena pushed Caroline into Stefan who took her away from the scene, leaving Mia alone with Bonnie, Elena, and a dead body.

Mia had gone unnoticed by Elena and Bonnie. The two girls looked glumly over the dead body and Damon soon returned with a shovel over his shoulder and a cocky swagger in his step.

"I can't believe this is happening," Bonnie said while sniffing.

"Come on," Damon said. "Don't pout about it. We got a body to bury." He walked up to Elena and looked down at her, making her move uncomfortably away from him. "I thought you were calling the shots."

Silence.

"No? Hmm," Damon set the shovel down on top of the body. "Sucks to be you, buddy."

Turning away from the girls, heading towards Mia, Damon let out a groan of pain and sank to his knees, holding his head in his hands. Mia watched in horror as Damon curled up on the ground and clutched his head, yelling in pain. She wished she could move, but she was still frozen in place and her voice had left her long ago.

"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt," Bonnie said in a warning tone, making Mia look up at the young girl. Her cheeks were tear stained and her nose was running.

"I didn't do this!" Damon yelled through clenched teeth.

"Bonnie, it wasn't his fault," Elena told her.

"Everything that happens is his fault, Elena," Bonnie argued.

Mia was confused and startled by Bonnie's tone.

Why was Damon on the ground?

Why was Elena trying to talk Bonnie out of something?

Why was Bonnie so pissed off?

What was going on?

"Bonnie, what are you doing?" Elena asked, looking at the ground. Mia's eyes flickered to the ground and a steady stream of water was making its way to the cringing Salvatore. Mia stared, confused as to how running water was Bonnie's fault. A second later, the trail of water caught fire and started to quickly make its way toward Damon. Bonnie watched emotionless and Elena stood there, like Mia, watching in horror.

"Bonnie, stop it," Elena pleaded with the teenager. "Bonnie, Bonnie, stop it."

Damon caught fire and started to gasp, scream, and shout in pain, trying to pat the fire out. A scream erupted from Mia's chest and her hands flew up to her mouth to cover it in horror.

Bonnie and Elena looked up, finally seeing Mia and the fire went out instantly. Elena and Bonnie looked at Mia with horrified expressions and Mia looked at the girls, scared and shocked.

"Mia?" Elena asked, shocked.

Mia's voice was still missing and she didn't know how she was going to be able to wrap her head around this. She looked back down at Damon and tear leaked down her cheek. She was so frightened.

What had she just witnessed?

What happened in the world of these teenagers?

Who was Tyler friends with?

Did he know about everything that just went on?

"Mia," Bonnie's voice said, from beside her, making the Lockwood jump and face the teenager with wide, terrified eyes. "How long have you been standing here?"

Mia opened her mouth to speak but nothing would come out.

"She's been there since I came to kill Blondie," Damon hissed in pain, answering for her. "Caroline was about to kill her."

Bonnie's eyes flickered down to Damon and they narrowed quickly before she looked back up at Mia who was shell shocked. Elena came over to the two girls and wrapped an arm around Mia.

"What happened?" Mia managed to choke out in a hoarse voice.

"We'll explain everything," Elena promised. "But not here. Let's get you inside."

Mia shook her head and shrugged Elena's arm off of her. "What happened?" Mia asked once more, finding her voice finally. "What's going on?"

Elena sighed and looked at Bonnie before looking back at the older girl in between them.

"Stefan, Damon, and Caroline are vampires," Elena said slowly, cautiously eyeing Mia.

_Vampires? _

It hit Mia like a brick wall and she felt so blind for not seeing it before. That would explain why Caroline bit that man's neck and blood was smeared all over her face. It would also explain why Damon had a wooden stake in his hand when he confronted Caroline. The fact that the brothers were vampires would explain why Mia felt so uneasy around them. The werewolf in her could spot them anytime, but it hadn't registered in her human brain until Elena spoke the word.

But what was Bonnie? There was no way that fire started randomly. There had to have been a catalyst. Water from water hoses didn't just spit out fire.

If Caroline, Stefan, and Damon were vampires, did that mean that Tyler knew about the supernatural? Did her little brother know that demons existed and were running around the town? Had the truth she wanted to hide already make itself known to Tyler?

And what about these teenagers? What limits of the supernatural did they know? Was it limited to just vampires or did it expand to other creatures like werewolves?

Mia's eyes widened as a thought danced around in her head.

Did they know what she was?

"Say something, Mia," Bonnie pleaded.

"If they're vampires, what are you?" Mia asked, looking up at Bonnie with eyes as big as tea cup saucers.

Bonnie looked at Elena and spoke up. "I'm a witch."

A witch.

There were witches, vampires, and now two werewolves in Mystic Falls currently and she still didn't know if her brother had any involvement in this supernatural fiasco.

"Does Tyler know?"

Elena and Bonnie shook their heads.

"Mia, you have to swear not to tell anybody," Elena said, getting closer to her. Mia cringed a little and backed away from Elena. Bonnie moved closer as well, making Mia jump. Her heart started to hammer in her chest and she felt claustrophobic all of a sudden.

She needed to get away to clear her mind. She needed to process all of this new information.

Putting her hands up in the air, she shook her head.

"I need some space."

Before Bonnie and Elena could figure out exactly how much space she needed, Mia bolted, running towards the tree line behind the parking lot.

Running.

It's a bittersweet thing.

Running can make you feel free, like no one can catch you. But you can't run and sustain the feeling of freedom forever. There's a point when reality catches up to you and you are no longer free. You become a slave to your regular life once more.

But was life in Mystic Falls going to be regular anymore?

Mia stopped when she reached the middle of the forest and leaned against a tree, bending over her knees. She stood up and paced around the tiny clearing, running both of her hands through her hair, running through the day's events.

The day had started out normal and quickly took a turn for the worst at the carnival. So much had happened in less than half an hour.

She had almost gotten attacked by a vampire.

A vampire saved her from another vampire and then tried to kill that vampire.

She had witnessed a girl she used to baby sit set a man – vampire on fire with nothing but water and magic.

What had happened to this little, quaint town? There used to be no drama and everything was perfect. Now? Everything seemed to be falling apart at the seams and Mia had no way of knowing where to begin to patch the mess up.

Dragging her hands down her face, Mia let out a frustrated cry and kicked a nearby tree, cursing loudly.

This wasn't how she imagined her trip back home.

There was only one bright side to this whole mess.

Her little brother was oblivious to the supernatural citizens of Mystic Falls. He was somewhat safe. But he wasn't safe enough. Mia didn't know what to do to help him anymore. Mason was pushing Tyler about his anger, probably tipping him off. Tyler was a smart kid and he would find out sooner or later that he wasn't a human.

Thinking of Tyler reminded Mia of the two Lockwoods waiting for her back at Mason's truck.

Who knows how much time has passed? They were probably looking for her, trying to call her. The only problem was, Mia didn't know which direction she had come from and her cell phone was back at the house.

With one last scream and kick, Mia took off running in the woods, trying to get back to her family.

_**No Salvation**_

When Mia reached the car, Tyler was pacing around the back of the truck and Mason had his phone up to his ear. Looking up, Tyler's face flooded with relief and Mason hung up the phone.

"Where were you?" Mason asked, anger and relief evident in his voice.

Mia knew she couldn't tell the truth so she settled for a lie.

"There was a line for the bathroom."

"And you couldn't answer your phone because?" Mason pressed.

"I left my phone at home," Mia answered.

Mason growled in frustration but then let it go quickly.

"Can we just go home?" Mia asked in a small voice, which was not like her.

Tyler furrowed his brow at his sister but nodded his head. Mia was grateful that the two men weren't prying further into her mood.

_**No Salvation**_

"I think it's good for Tyler to have you in the house, Mason," Carol said as she looked at the thirty year old Lockwood who had his arms crossed over his chest. Mia, Carol, and Mason were standing in the foyer after talking over the events of tonight – the fight. Carol was happy that Mason broke up the fight. But she picked Mia to be the scapegoat for not doing anything about it.

"I appreciate that, Carol," Mason said, kissing his sister-in-law's ass, making Mia roll her eyes.

"Oh, and I can see if I can dig up that stone you're looking for," Carol said as she climbed the stairs slowly. "It's bound to be tucked away in one of Richard's nooks and crannies."

She sent Mia a glare before heading up the stairs.

Mia didn't even bother to pick a fight, she just followed Carol and went into her own room, needing a couple hours of rest to restore her energy and take her mind off of the other events that happened tonight.

Mia peeled her clothes off and jumped into one of her dad's t-shirts. She nuzzled her nose into the collar and inhaled the scent of Richard Lockwood, finding some comfort.

Climbing into bed, Mia shut the lights off and close her eyes, dreaming of fangs, fire, and full moons.

* * *

**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows this story has gotten already! ****It means a lot to me and I hope you continue to stick around and see what is in store for Mia and the Mystic Falls Gang. (:**

**-NS1918**


	3. Bad Moon Rising

**Bad Moon Rising**

"_Hey, Mia! It's Jenna," _the voice mail started out. Mia stopped in the middle of the woods, taking a break from her run. She had pulled her phone out to see how far she had run, but the missed call and voice mail from Jenna Sommers caught her attention. _"I was just calling to see if you wanted to hang out today. Elena and Jeremy are out of the house and I thought it would be the perfect time to catch up. Just give me a call back. Alright, bye."_

Mia pulled the phone away from her ear and hit redial and she got Jenna's voice mail.

"Jenna! Hey, I was just calling you back to tell you that I can hang out today. Just text me the time and place and I'll meet you there," Mia said into the phone's speaker before hanging up and slipping her phone back into the band of her compression pants.

Mia walked forward a little bit and found what she was searching for.

The entrance to the old Lockwood cellar. It would be a perfect place for Mia to change tonight. It was out in the middle of the woods behind the property, no one would be coming back here tonight.

Hearing the crunching of leaves, Mia turned around to see Mason coming up behind her.

"This is it?" he asked, motioning to the cellar.

Mia nodded her head. As much as she wanted to keep her distance from Mason at the moment, she knew that they would have to go through the torture of changing together.

Mason motioned for Mia to go down the step, brick steps and gave her a smile. "After you."

The younger Lockwood jogged down the steps and pushed open the heavy wooden door that lead further into the cellar. Mason was right on her heels as she opened a wrought iron gate and walked into the main part of the cellar. There were chains hanging from the walls, ceilings, and some were attached to the floor. In the corner of one wall, there was a giant work of iron suspended in midair by two chains. Mia had seen one before and knew that it went around your chest while you were changing and kept you in place. There didn't seem to be much room in it, though, leading her to believe it was highly painful.

"This place will do," Mason said from behind her. "I'll bring the chains and you bring the wolfsbane."

Mia nodded her head and turned to face Mason who was looking around. When he met her gaze, he nodded his head towards the cellar doors and she followed after him, leaving the cellar until later tonight.

When the two made it up to the woods once more, Mia spoke up.

"I'll meet you here at dark," she said before taking off towards the house once more, leaving Mason behind.

_**No Salvation**_

Knocking on the front door of the Gilbert house, Mia took a step back and waited for her friend to answer the door. When the door did open, Jenna hurled herself at Mia and threw her arms around the girl. Mia hugged Jenna back and a smile spread across her face.

She had missed her best friend when she was in San Francisco. Mia spent most of her time alone while she was on the opposite coast of the continental United States. It was a miserable time but it was mandatory.

When the strawberry blonde haired woman pulled away from Mia, the two walked into the house and sat down on the couch, facing each other.

"How are you holding up?" Jenna asked. "I mean, first Jeanine and then your dad."

Mia tensed at Jeanine's name. She was the reason she left after all. After Jenna and Mia's friend Jeanine passed away from falling off of a banister in her house while Mia was over, Mia ran away. She didn't know what to do. She freaked out and ran to her Uncle who was in San Francisco for the time being.

"I'm doing better. Good days and bad days, you know?"

"So, how was San Francisco?" Jenna asked, switching topics. "Any boys?"

"It wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but I still can't complain," Mia said, not giving much away. She would never tell anyone the horrors of her time on the West Coast if she didn't have to. "There weren't any boys that caught my eye. They either had too many tattoos and piercings or they were just complete man whores."

Jenna wrinkled her nose and stuck her tongue out, making Mia giggled.

"Make any new friends?" Jenna questioned.

Mia knew this was her way of making sure that things were going to be the same between them. In all honesty, Mia couldn't picture herself without Jenna being by her side. They had been best friends for almost two decades. When they first met, Mia was three and Jenna was nine. The three year old found herself attached to the nine year old and vice versa. Jenna babysat Mia for a while, although they felt more like play dates than anything. Mia couldn't help but smile up at her friend and reach over to give her shoulder a squeeze.

"No, actually," Mia said. "I was the lone wolf."

_Literally._

"That's too bad," Jenna said in a sad tone but a smile on her face. Mia let out a laugh and shook her head at her friend, making her laugh as well.

"So, what happened while I was gone?"

"Elena found out she was adopted," Jenna said in a tone that sounded painful. "She hated me for a while."

"It was bound to come out sometime," Mia said, trying to comfort her friend. "And she doesn't hate you now, right? It was just her reacting to being kept in the dark for seventeen years."

Jenna nodded her head and fiddled with her fingers for a couple seconds before a shy smile spread across her face.

"What is it?" Mia asked, confused as to why she was smiling.

"I met someone," Jenna said, looking up at her with a blush on her cheeks.

"What?" Mia exclaimed. "Tell me all about him?"

"His name is Alaric," she responded. "He's Elena and Jeremy's history teacher. He replaced Tanner after he was murdered by an animal."

"Murdered?" Mia repeated with horror.

"Yeah, an animal attacked him the night of homecoming. It was really freaky. The animal bit him in the neck and he lost all of his blood by bleeding out."

Mia's heart stopped in her chest momentarily.

Tanner wasn't killed by an animal. He was killed by a _vampire._

Mia repressed the urge to blanch. She still wasn't okay with all of the new information she found out but she had pushed it to the back of her mind, wanting nothing to do with it until she could be alone for a while and analyze everything.

"But anyway," Jenna started, picking up the conversation once more. "We met through Jeremy and at first I just admired from afar, you know since Logan came back and totally destroyed my faith in men for the second time."

"Logan," Mia scoffed. "He was always a prick. I told you."

"Yeah, yeah," Jenna dismissed. "Anyways, I started to talk to him more and more and despite the fact that he talked about his deceased wife a lot, I couldn't help myself. He was just so sweet." The woman smiled and bit her lip before continuing. "We went to the 50's Decade Dance together and then a while later when Elena and I were trying to find her birth mother, I came across a picture of his wife who just so happened to be Elena's birth mother. Freaky, right?"

Mia's eyes widened as she nodded her head. "I'd say so."

"He became a bit distant after that but we patched things up and went to the Miss Mystic Pageant together."

"So are you two together?" Mia asked.

"It's complicated," Jenna said. "Alaric, Elena, and her boyfriend's older brother, Damon, went to Duke digging for research about her birth mother today."

"So it's a no?"

"It's a no as of right now. I told him to take time to figure out how he felt and sort out anything at Duke that he needed to take care of before he dove into anything with me."

"Aw," Mia cooed. "Look at you – taking it slow and being wise about it." Mia paused and a smirk formed on her face. "I think this is a first."

Jenna let out a laugh before throwing a pillow at the younger girl.

_**No Salvation**_

After eating dinner with Jenna, Mia left and stopped at the house before she headed to the cellar where Mason was bound to be. She changed into an old sports bra and a ratty pair of shorts, packed a bag of spare clothes, and grabbed a vial of wolfsbane. Grabbing two water bottles, she fled into the forest and quickly made her way to the cellar. The sun was no longer in the sky and the moon was shifting into place.

For the past five to six hours while Mia was over at Jenna's she had been fighting the small doses of pain. They were intense but she had to keep up the façade with Jenna. She didn't want her friend to know what kind of a monster she really was. The second she had pulled out of the driveway, Mia let out the screams she had been holding back.

Running into the cellar, Mia threw her duffle bag to the side and unscrewed the top of the bottles, pouring half of the herbs into one bottle and the other half in the next bottle. She put the lids back on and shook them, setting them down in front of them. As if on cue, her heartbeat started to pick up and the blood in her veins started to burn.

Mason was working on his chains and Mia just picked hers up, ready to put them on when they both heard voices coming from the top of the cellar.

Mason and Mia froze, hearing Tyler and a girl's voice getting closer. Mason turned to the young Lockwood and gave her a confused look.

Picking up the bottles and their bags, Mia motioned for Mason to follow her. There was a back exit to this cellar that would lead them back to the dirt road where Mason's truck was. Mason picked up the chains and the two quickly moved out of the cellar away from the humans.

Reaching the truck, Mia could now feel her blood start to boil, transitioning to the wolf's blood and not hers. Her heart was hammering against her chest, making her feel as if she was about to pass out at any minute but she knew that wasn't the case. She would have to feel every bone change to the wolf's bone and her mind warp into the wolf's mind.

Throwing the clothes into the back of the car, Mia opened her water bottle and forced the liquid into her mouth. Her skin sizzled when the wolfsbane made contact and she let out a scream of pain. It felt as if she was burning her skin off slowly with a blowtorch. Coughing up blood and bits of the lining in her throat, Mia cried out, clutching her throat.

The wolfsbane wouldn't help tonight. Mia knew that the second she felt a bone in her foot crack and change formation, making her crumple to the ground and scream out in pain. All the other bones in her foot followed suit and she looked down, seeing her foot change from a human's foot to the structure of a wolf's foot.

A snarl rang out in her mind and she felt her brain compress itself, changing to allow the wolf to take over. Her hands flew up to her head and grabbed the roots of her hair, trying to stop the pain even though it was futile to even try.

In her fit of pain, Mia was vaguely aware of Mason who jumped into his car to change separate from her.

Next it was her legs that started to snap and reform themselves. Mia felt as if a metal beam was repeatedly falling on her legs, crushing the bones. Rolling onto her stomach, Mia felt her arms snap back and the bones shift so the arm sockets would be further back and higher up so the wolf could stand on all fours.

Snarls, growls, and howls filled her head and all words slipped from her brain. All she could process was the pain as the wolf inside of her slowly took over.

A searing pain formed in her eyes as they changed so she was able to see better in the night. She could feel her eyes bulge as they expanded and the bones in her face started to morph, forming a snout. Her ears shifted upwards on her head and fangs popped out from her gums on both top and bottom canines.

Fur sprouted form every pore of her body, making it feel like her skin was tearing itself apart as she writhed on the ground. Letting out a howl, Mia felt herself slip away, into the darkest parts of the wolf's mind.

_**No Salvation**_

Freedom.

That's what the wolf felt as she stretched out on all fours and rolled around in the dirt. She had missed being able to move about freely and do whatever she pleased. Hearing a rumble, the wolf straightened up and turned its head to the side, perking its ears up, listening for the sound she heard.

Without warning, another wolf pounced on her, making the wolf spiral backwards. Quickly getting up back on all fours, the wolf let a snarl escape her teeth before lunging at the other wolf, sending it backwards. The force the wolf put into the lunge was enough to make the other wolf snap its head back against the tree it crashed into. The wolf fell to the forest floor and didn't move. The wolf could see its chest expanding and deflating.

Sending one last snarl in the unconscious wolf's direction, the wolf trotted off into the night, looking for a hunt. Before the wolf could make it too far, a foul stench filled the wolf's nostrils, making it still mid step. Sniffing the air again, a growl rippled through the predator's throat.

Turning around, the wolf sped over to the source of the scent and caught sight of a boy looking into a truck. The scent that danced around the wolf's head proved it wasn't human and excitement flooded the beast.

Finally, real competition.

A vampire.

The boy circled the truck and when it came back into the wolf's sight, it let out a howl before charging at the vampire. A second before the wolf landed on the parasite, it moved out of the way and the wolf bumped into the hard metal of the truck and fell on its stomach.

Slowly getting up on its feet again, the wolf shook its head, clearing its senses before looking around for the monster.

It was nowhere in sight but the scent was heavy and it lead a direct path to the leech.

The wolf bound towards the scent and a couple moments later, it found itself in a clearing where not only one, but _two _vampires and a human were.

The wolf rejoiced inside her skull and went into hunting mode.

First, she would circle her prey and then attack.

Circling the clearing she heard the distressed voices of the vampires as they looked around trying to find her. But she knew how to play this game and hid far enough back in the shadows to keep herself hidden.

The vampires' heads wiped around, continuing to search for the wolf but found themselves surrounded as the wolf used its stealth and speed to circle them three times in one second.

Oh, how the wolf loved her abilities.

Deciding that enough was enough, she stopped toying with her food, anxious to attack. The vampires fled the second before she lunged and she growled, bypassing the human, chasing the real prey.

The vampires stopped once more and the wolf waited in the darkness for the perfect chance.

Another person walked in but this one smelt different from the vampires and other human. He smelt like another wolf. Pushing the recognition to the back of her animalistic brain, the werewolf braced itself and pounced on the female vampire, knocking her on the ground.

The wolf kept her paws on the bloodsucker's chest and held her to the ground while pools of venom poured out of the monster's mouth, landing on the vampire's flesh. Underneath her, the vampire squealed and squirmed, trying desperately to escape.

The wolf had it right where she wanted.

Without warning, the animal was thrust into the ground, off of its prey.

That ticked the beast off.

Getting up on her feet for the umpteenth time that night, the wolf snarled at the two vampires. Prepared to pounce once more – hopefully for the last time – the animal stopped in its tracks after hearing a loud noise come from the fellow wolf in human form.

The beast turned to the boy and snarled, baring its fangs. It wasn't like a fellow monster to stop a kill.

_Tyler! That's Tyler, _the tiny human girl's voice in the back of the wolf's mind rang out. _You can't hurt him. He's your brother. _

Backing down, the wolf snarled one last time before bounding off, leaving the human's brother alone. She would have to go and hunt other animals now since the petty human made her give up the kill of the two leeches.

_**No Salvation**_

Pulling on her pants and sports bra over her mud covered skin, Mia turned and crouched down to Mason's level, checking on his unconscious form. She didn't mean to knock him out but the wolf was the dominant one on full moons and she preferred to hunt alone.

Grabbing a pair of Mason's shorts, she looked away as much as she could while she tugged them on for him. He _so _owed her for that.

"It was _you_," the voice of Tyler said behind Mia, making her jump.

Cursing under her breath, the werewolf turned around to face her baby brother before nodding her head.

The stunned Lockwood boy looked down at Mason who was at Mia's feet and looked back up at her in confusion.

"What are you?" he asked.

"I'm tired and I want to go home," she grumbled before bending down to grab Mason's arms. She turned to look at her brother, down at Mason's legs, and then back to her brother. "Are you going to help me or just stand there?"

Tyler remained standing where he was and repeated his question.

"What am I? You really want to know?"

When her brother nodded her head, she let go of Mason's arms and walked up to stand in front of her brother. There was no hiding what she was now; not ever.

"I'm a Lockwood and I activated the family curse. On full moons I become a monster who is blood thirsty and hunts – not for food, not for survival; but for fun," Mia told him blatantly.

Tyler's eyes widened and he looked down at Mason and back up at Mia.

"Is Mason one, too?"

Mia nodded her head, watching as horror filled her brother's eyes.

"Am I?" he asked in a scared voice.

Mia shook her head. "Not yet, and hopefully not ever."

"How did you trigger the curse?"

"Look, I'll tell you everything," Mia told her brother, not answering his question. She would tell him, just not now. Maybe when he was older and could handle the truth. "But not now. You have to help me get Mason back to the house."

Tyler remained still for a couple moments before nodding his head, walking over to his uncle, picking up his feet. Mia grabbed Mason's shoulders and the two siblings hauled Mason into the back of his truck. Getting in the front seat, Tyler and Mia drove back towards the house with the sun rising behind them.

* * *

**Sorry that this chapter was so short, guys. I just didn't have much to do for this chapter. **

**Next chapter, Mia explains everything about being a werewolf to Tyler and then Mia and Mason head over to the Gilberts' for a barbecue where things will start to pick up between the oldest Salvatore and the Lockwoods. **

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stick around for the next one.**

**Don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought! They're really lovely to hear. **

**Thanks for everything.**

**-NS1918**


	4. Memory Lane

**Memory Lane**

Sitting on her bed cross legged, Mia kept her hands in her lap and looked up at her brother who was sitting on the other end of her bed. He had a slightly frightened expression on his face as he waited for her to explain what they – or at least, she – was.

"Since the beginning of the Lockwood line, the werewolf gene has been in passed down through the generations," Mia began in a small voice. She didn't want to tell her brother the horrible things that came with being a monster, but she didn't have a choice. He saw her last night and he would never let it go if she didn't tell him. "The gene has been in every single Lockwood but it's more dormant in some, like Dad. He was able to control his anger better than most."

"So not everyone becomes a werewolf?" Tyler asked.

Mia shook her head. "But once you become a wolf, there is no going back. You are stuck in a lifetime of unbearable pain at least once a month."

"Are there any plus sides to being a werewolf?"

"Only a few. Your senses become heightened, your muscles are stronger, we heal quickly, and you develop a sixth sense to recognize when someone isn't exactly human," she explained, not going into further detail. She promised to tell him about werewolves, not vampires. That would be a conversation for another time. "Werewolves bond to other wolves quickly, we grow attached to our packs."

_Except for you_, her subconscious sneered at her. _You're some kind of a freak who doesn't hesitate to attack her own kind on full moons. No wolf has ever done that._

"We're also immune to silver, whether it be bound to magic or used as a weapon," she said.

"Magic?" Tyler asked.

Mia nodded her head, looking down at her fingers. "I've never had a personal encounter with a witch but I've heard stories."

"What about weaknesses?" her brother asked after a moment.

"Wolfsbane is poisonous to a werewolf. It burns to the touch and damages our immune system, making our healing rates descend. There's also magic, blood loss can stop the healing process and kill us."

"What happens on full moons?"

Cringing from the memory of the pain the night before, Mia took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke. "It's just like every other horror movie, we shift into beast with hair everywhere. It's really itchy, actually," Mia commented, making her brother let out a chuckle. "But when you change, your bones break and mold into the wolf's skeleton, you brain shrinks so the wolf's brain can form. It feels as if you are dying a thousand deaths. Then the hair sprouts out of every pore. It feels as if your skin is being ripped off of you. And then all the sudden you slip away and come to hours later, naked, covered in dirt, scratches, or both."

Mia looked up at her brother finally and saw horror flash across his face.

"When we aren't wolves, we are angry, impulsive, reckless creatures," Mia continued. "Some let the anger take over and they kill people. Others, like Mason and I, take it upon ourselves to control the anger and try to live our lives as normally as we can."

"What happens when you activate the curse?"

"The curse activates immediately and pain ripples through your body and it doesn't go away for a couple hours," she answered. "The first time you shift, it's unbearable. The pain, it makes you wish for death. But the pain gets tolerable after the first year – it doesn't go away, but you learn to accept it."

Tyler was silent, processing all the information before he spoke once more, asking the question Mia hoped he wouldn't ask.

"How do you trigger the curse?"

Mia tensed and looked away from her brother, fighting off the memory of the night she triggered the curse and her world turned upside down.

"Tyler, I—"

The older Lockwood was cut off by her bedroom door swinging open to reveal Carol, putting an end to their conversation.

_**No Salvation**_

After jumping out of the shower, Mia busied herself with preparing herself for the barbecue that her and Mason were invited to by Jenna. While she was wrapped in her towel, she padded softly into her closet where her backpack laid with some clothes. She pulled out all of her clothes which consisted of three shirts, three jeans, four sets of underwear, two sports bra, one regular bra, and two pairs of shoes. Frowning at her clothes, she picked the green roll-up crop top, a pair of pale blue, high waisted skinny jeans, and her converse.

After she got dressed, Mia walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror, seeing her hair a mess. It was frizzy and curled outwards in every direction. She huffed and combed all the hair to the crown of her head and gathered it in a lose bun, securing two hair ties and four pins around the mass of hair atop her head.

Looking back in the mirror, memories of three days ago played through her head. She had told Tyler a bit about what she was and she had been dodging his questions since, just like Mason was. She didn't want to tell him how the curse was triggered because she knew that was all he would obsess over it for the rest of his life and she didn't want to ruin his future more than it was already.

Pulling herself out of her memories, she walked out of the bathroom and grabbed her phone before walking out of her room. When she was at the top of the stairs, she stilled, hearing Tyler and Mason talking.

"Come on, give me two minutes," Tyler hissed at the older Lockwood. "All right?"

Mia watched Mason grab his keys and walk towards the door, ignoring the teenager.

"You can't keep dodging me," Tyler told him. "I'm freaking out over here."

"Tyler, what do you want me to say, man?" Mason asked, turning on his heel to face him. "Yes, your sister and I turned into a wolf. No, it's not gonna happen to you; not if your sister can help it."

"How do you know that?" Tyler challenged.

"Because, she isn't going to let you trigger the curse," Mason told him. "Your dad didn't know anything about the curse. Neither did I 'till it happened to me. And then a couple years later, Mia came running to me, begging for help."

Mia clutched the railing of the staircase and promised herself she would do whatever it takes to keep Tyler as human as he could be. She wouldn't let innocent blood lay on Tyler's hands and she wouldn't let him become a monster.

"How does it get triggered?" Tyler pressed.

"Ignorance is bliss," Mason told him. "Trust me."

"You two blow back into town with some supernatural family secret and you expect me not to ask questions?" the boy asked, his anger flaring.

"I can't say anything more," Mason said, his eyes flickering up to Mia. Tyler's eyes followed his and his shoulders tensed more, seeing his sister. She bit her tongue and walked down the stairs to Mason's side. "I'm sorry, Tyler," Mason apologized.

"It's better for you if you don't know," Mia told her brother in a pleading tone, wishing he would understand. But this was Tyler she was talking to. He was the most stubborn kid she had ever met. He squared his jaw in frustration and shook his head.

Mia gave her brother an apologetic smile before turning around. She was just about to walk out of the house when Tyler spoke up.

"Did you ever find that moonstone, Mason?"

Deciding she didn't want to hear her brother try to bargain his way into learning the secret, Mia walked out of the house and jumped into Mason's car, waiting for him to join her. When the other wolf finally did join her, he was relaxed and calm as if nothing had happened.

"Did you tell him?" she asked, wondering if Tyler's bargaining chip worked on their uncle.

"No," he told her. "I know now not to piss you off."

"Sorry," Mia mumbled under her breath, thinking about the night of the full moon when she knocked Mason unconscious.

Her uncle didn't say anything as he turned the engine on and pulled out of the drive way, heading to the Gilberts' house.

_**No Salvation**_

Pulling up outside of the Gilberts' Victorian styled home, Mia and Mason hopped out of the truck and headed up to the front door. When her foot landed on the first step, Mia's phone rang, blaring _Hands All Over _by Maroon 5.

Pulling the phone out of her back pocket, Mia looked down at the Caller ID and tensed, seeing the name.

"You okay?" Mason asked her, looking down at her with curiosity.

"Yeah, I just have to take this call," she explained. "I'll be right in."

Mason stared at her for a moment before nodding his head, opening the front door to Jenna's house. Mia walked back down the step and over to the car to have some privacy.

Hitting the accept button, she took a deep breath before putting the phone up to her ear.

"What?" she hissed into the speaker of the phone.

"_Mia,"_ the gruff voice of the man on the other line crooned. _"I've missed you."_

"What do you want?" she asked, annoyed that he was calling her.

"_I just wanted to know when you were coming back,"_ the man said in his deep voice. _"It's lonely here without you."_

"I told you to leave me alone," she spat into the phone, the venom in her voice tangible.

"_You didn't mean it,"_ he said, his tone darkening.

"Yes, I did mean it," Mia yelled. "I told you to leave me alone and so help me God, if you call me one more time, I will come back and punch you so hard your skull will concave on itself."

Without waiting to make sure he understood her message, Mia ended the call and shoved the phone into her back pocket. She ran a frustrated hand through her hair and shook her head, clearing all her negative thoughts in her head before heading into the house.

Turning around, Mia bumped into a hard mass and stumbled back a bit, looking up to see what she bumped into. Her eyes widened fractionally, seeing Damon Salvatore standing in front of her with a smirk on his face.

"Damon," she said, breathing out a sigh of relief. "I didn't see you there."

"That's impossible, everyone sees me," he said with a smirk on his lips. "But I'll let it slide."

The older Salvatore stood in front of her and looked down at her with his ice blue eyes, making her feel a bit uncomfortable with the unwanted attention. He lifted his eyebrows and brought them back down, widening his vibrant eyes as he did so.

Mia gave him a forced smile and stepped around the vampire, walking into the house quickly. She heard voices in the kitchen and made her way towards the noise with Damon right behind her.

"_I have no secrets, just dirty shame," _Jenna's muffled voice said.

"_To dirty shame_," a man's voice said.

The clinking of glasses was heard just as the two stepped into the kitchen.

"Hey," Damon said from behind Mia, pulling the attention back to them.

Mason was standing on one side of the island with Jenna and they both had shots in their hands. Jenna's face fell when she saw the older Salvatore and Mia couldn't help but wonder why no one seemed to be thrilled to see him.

The female Lockwood's eyes swept over to the man on the other side of the counter and she looked at him carefully. He had sandy brown hair that was swept to the side and a button nose in the middle of his face. Hazel eyes popped out and Mia could see the light twinkling in his irises. Scruff lined his strong jaw, pulling off the rugged man look.

"Damon," Jenna said with a distaste.

"We're just doing shots," the mystery man said in a deep voice. "Let me get you two shot glasses."

Jenna shook her head. "No." Tipping her shot back, Jenna handed the empty glass to Damon – more like shoved. "Here. Use mine."

Mia sighed and took Mason's shot out of his hands, drinking it, before handing the empty glass back to her uncle and chasing after her friend who had gone upstairs to her room. Mia climbed the stairs after Jenna and walked into her room, finding Jenna laying down, staring up at the ceiling with her hands folded over her stomach. Mia sighed, lying down on the bed next to her.

"What was that?" Mia asked.

"That was my way of being nice to that asshole," Jenna huffed.

"What did he do?" the younger girl asked.

"He kissed Elena when she is dating his younger brother."

Mia sat up quickly and looked down at her friend with a disgusted expression. "That's disgusting." Jenna nodded her head, making her strawberry curls bounce, as she sat up to face Mia. "I have to give you credit though, you handled that better than I would have. If I were you I would have said some things not for teenagers ears and forced him out of the house."

Jenna laughed and looked down at her hands, blushing at Mia's way of paying her a compliment.

"I kind of have to tolerate him," Jenna said. "He's Ric's friend."

"Ric?"

"Alaric," Jenna clarified.

"That was him?" Mia asked, getting a little excited. "In the kitchen? That was him?" A smile broke out on Jenna's face and she nodded her head, fighting back a blush. "Oh, honey, you didn't tell me he looked like _that_. That man looks like he could be a Levi's male model. I would tolerate Damon as well if he was friends with a man like Alaric."

Jenna laughed at Mia's bold comment and fell back on the bed. Mia laughed along with her friend, feeling at ease and happy for once. She had been tense ever since she came to this town. She had good reasons to be tense.

"Ladies," the voice of Alaric broke through their fit of laughter. They looked up to see him with a crooked grin on his face. "The food is ready." He turned around and walked down the hall.

When his back was turned to them, Mia bit her lip mockingly and traced his outline with her hands, making Jenna break out in laughter once more. The brunette gently elbowed her friend's stomach. "Alright, alright," Jenna said, out of breath. "That's enough."

"Fine, I'll stop," Mia said, putting her hands in the air. "But only because you have dibs."

Jenna pushed herself off of the bed and rolled her eyes. "Some things never change."

Mia smiled at her and got up of the bed, linking arms with Jenna as the two exited the bedroom, marching down the stairs, and into the dining room where everyone was seated, putting food on their plates.

Alaric looked up at the women as they entered the room and gave them an embarrassed smile after Mia winked at him and Jenna elbowed her not so gently in the side.

_**No Salvation**_

"Dress! Ballerina!" Jenna yelled out, slurring some of the syllables of the last word together. At lunch, the adults had had a bit too much to drink and all were happier than they probably should have been.

"Puppy, puppy! Puppy with a tutu," Caroline said the last part as more of a question while Damon drew on the large pad of paper.

They were playing Pictionary and Damon had drawn a dog on two legs with arrows around its hips, saying it was supposed to spin around. There was a red tutu on the dog's stomach. "No, no," Damon said with a red marker in between his teeth.

Mia sat on the couch opposite of the one Jenna, Alaric, and Caroline were sitting on, nursing her third beer. The Lockwood was silently seething, knowing full well what the vampire was hinting at. He knew something wasn't all that human about her and Mason and he was poking them in the side with a stick in front of everybody.

"Okay, dog, hound, hound dog," Jenna rattled off, trying to piece thoughts together. "'You Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog.'"

Mia looked over at her friend and saw her and Alaric smiling at each other, trying to come up with the answer.

"_Dances With Wolves,"_ Mason chimed in, looking up at Damon with a not so friendly smile on his face.

Jenna, Alaric, and Caroline turned to face Mason with astonished expressions. The older Lockwood just stared ahead at the vampire, sending him subtle daggers.

"Mason wins _again_," Damon sang out.

"How is that a wolf?" Jenna objects, turning back to the drawing.

Feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, Mia pulled it out and looked down at the screen seeing _his _name pop up once more on the screen. She scowled and pressed decline, powering her phone off afterwards.

"Who was that?" Jenna asked, pulling Mia's attention back to the rest of the group, noticing that Damon had disappeared into the kitchen with Elena.

"No one," Mia answered quickly.

"Uh, oh," Jenna dragged out. "It's Owen, isn't it?"

Mia shook her head and shoved her phone back in her pocket. "I told you. It's _no one._" Raising the beer bottle to her lips, Mia took a long drink, letting the alcohol slide down her throat.

"Who's Owen?" Caroline asked, curiosity evident in her tone.

"A boy who is _obsessed _with Mia," Jenna teased. Mia just glared at her friend, not wanting to speak of the incessant boy at the moment. "He's a year younger than Mia and ever since the day they met at college, he's been head over heels in love. Mia never really liked him, but she tolerated him seeing as though he followed her like a lost puppy."

"I'm in the mood for some pie," Mason said, stopping Jenna before she could dive further into the story. He sent a knowing glace towards Mia and then turned to Jenna. "Why don't you go get the pie and the rest of us will clean up in here?"

Jenna looked at Mason and nodded her head, not scowling at all, telling both Mia and Mason that she was a bit buzzed to say the least. Jenna got up and walked into the kitchen before Caroline got up to take care of the pad of paper propped up against the lamp on the chair side table.

"So, obsessive, love-struck boy?" Alaric questioned.

Mia nodded her head. "No matter how hard you try and run from the past, it always comes back."

"Amen to that," Alaric said, nodding his head in agreement.

Mia tipped her bottle up and Alaric returned the gesture and the two took a sip of their beers.

"Come get pie!" Jenna yelled out from the kitchen.

The three adults got up and headed into the kitchen while Elena joined Caroline in the living room. Mia and Mason sat down on the bench while Alaric took a seat at the head of the table. Jenna was over at the sink, looking at her mother's silver set and Damon walked over with pie and a silver pie server. The vampire set the pie down in front of Mia with the handle facing her.

"Ladies first," he said, watching her with narrowed eyes.

Mia looked down at the silver utensil and resisted the urge to roll her eyes and laugh in his face. Did he seriously believe that stupid, old myth? And to think she pegged him for a smarter-than-he-looks type of guy.

Looking up at her uncle, their eyes locked and a silent message passed between the two.

_Let's humor him. _

Mia looked back down at the pie and shook her head. "No thanks. I'm still full from the barbecue."

Giving her a tight lipped smile and a tiny glare, Damon passed the pie to Mason. "Mason! Why don't you start us off, then?"

The wolf looked down at the pie and then back up at the vampire, giving him a bright smile. "Sure." He turned the pie around so the silver pie server was facing Damon and he stuck his hand in the pie, grabbing his piece, making a mess doing so.

Mia looked up at Damon and saw him looking at Alaric. Her eyes flickered over to the human and she frowned a little bit, seeing him look at Mason suspiciously. She really had started to like Ric, but that changed, seeing as though he was in on Damon's whole plan.

"What am I?" Mason asked with an apologetic tone. "I apologize. I'm an animal."

"All of us Lockwoods are," Mia chimed in. "I guess it's just in our nature."

If the vampire wanted to play dirty, she would give him what he wanted. There was no use in hiding what they were. Damon already knew, he just wanted to confirm it. The Salvatore sat down in front of Mia and stared at her with his head cocked to the side. Mia stared back blankly at him.

Alaric chuckled at Mia's comment before speaking. "So, Mason, uh, you and Jenna never dated?"

Mason shook his head. "She was always lost in Logan Fell land."

"Oh, my first mistake," Jenna said, setting coffee cups down in front of Alaric, Mason, and Mia. "Mason was a catch. He had girls lining up."

"Really?" Damon said, sounding apprehensive. "I always pegged you for a lone wolf." A smirk spread across his face and Mia's blood started to boil at his smugness.

"Oh, I'm sure I wasn't half the lady-killer you were," Mason retorted, making Mia choke on her coffee when Damon's face fell a bit.

"How about a toast?" Mason spoke up again, after Mia cleared her throat. He held his beer bottle up and Mia joined in, looking over at Damon with a smirk on her face. "To new friends."

The adults put their beer bottles together – minus Mia, who used her coffee cup – and all drank to the toast. Tense smiles were shared between the vampire, werewolves, and Alaric and Jenna was blissfully unaware of what was actually happening.

Mia was a little upset that Damon chose this of all times to dig for information. This was supposed to be a relaxing day where Mia and Mason could hang out with their friend and her boyfriend. The werewolf leaned against the table and eyed the vampire cautiously.

She knew he was going to cause problems sooner or later; Mia just preferred it to be later.

_**No Salvation**_

It was eight o'clock when Mia and Mason decided to head to the Grill to get a drink before last call and then go home. The rest of the day, the vampire and werewolves fought with words and dirty looks and Jenna seemed totally oblivious. Mia was surprised, since the tension in the room was so thick she could cut it with a butter knife. But a small part of her was glad that her friend was oblivious to the supernatural drama that surrounded this town and some of its residents.

"No takers for more drinks at the Grill?" Mason asked as they stood in the foyer. "Come on, Jenna, you can't leave your best friends alone to drink."

Alaric just smiled and shook his head. Mia watched him carefully and another frown settled on her face. She had believed at the beginning of the afternoon that they could have been good friends, but after realizing that he was in with Damon, she had let go of all thoughts of being friends.

"It's like we're with a bunch of adults here, right, Mia?" Mason joked, teasing the strawberry blonde.

"I prefer the term role model," Jenna retorted, looking over at Mia, giving her a wink. The Lockwood just smiled at her friend, understanding that she had more responsibility now with the Gilbert teenagers. That, and she probably just wanted alone time with Alaric.

"Okay," Mia said, looking up at her uncle and then back at Jenna and Alaric. "Well, thanks for having us over. It was amazing. We should do this again sometime." Mia walked into Jenna's arms and the two friends gave each other a squeeze before pulling away. Mason gave Jenna a hug next and then shook hands with Alaric. Mia just stood back and regarded him with wary eyes. He looked at Mia and gave her a smile with a hidden emotion behind his eyes. She just nodded her head in his direction and gave a smile to Jenna.

"Alaric, catch that game next week?" Mason offered, trying to be friendly and act like nothing was wrong.

"Yeah, looking forward to it," he responded, nodding his head at the older Lockwood.

"Hey, you know, I should probably head out too," Damon's voice rang out through the hallway.

Mia resisted the urge to roll her eyes and just opened the door, walking out of the house. Mason followed directly behind her and the two jumped into his car quickly, pulling away from the Gilbert house.

"Who the hell does that vampire think he is?" Mia growled, when they sped down the street, heading to the Grill.

"He thinks he's smart and all knowing," Mason answered.

Mia settled back in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. She didn't like Damon Salvatore one bit. He rubbed her the wrong way today.

The two sat in silence as Mason drove to the Grill. It took them all of two minutes to get there and when they got out of the car, they saw none other than the devil himself standing behind the truck. Mia threw her hands up in the air, exasperated with the vampire who wouldn't leave good enough alone.

"Damon?" Mason asked with a chuckle. "What, more dog jokes?"

"Nah, those got old," the oldest Salvatore said as he walked up to Mason. Without having time to react, Damon shoved a silver knife into Mason's chest, making him drop to the ground, grunting in pain. Mia gasped and ran over to her uncle, but before she could reach him, Damon's hand closed around her throat and lifted her up off of the ground. The werewolf struggled, trying to pry his hands off of her throat. "You, little Missy," Damon started with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "You tried to kill my brother."

"I didn't mean to," she gasped out, trying to get air into her lungs.

"You know," Mason spoke from behind them after a clatter rang out in the air. Mia's eyes flickered over to him and saw him pushing himself off of the ground, walking over to Damon and her. Gripping Damon's arm, he tore it off of Mia's throat and pushed the vampire back. "I think it was the werewolves who started this whole silver myth." The vampire took a couple steps back and watched the two wolves with caution.

"Probably for a moment like this," Mia added, rubbing her throat where his hand was. She winced in pain, knowing full well there was going to be a bruise on her neck later tonight. Due to her healing rate, the bruise would only last a couple hours before disappearing.

"Duly noted," Damon said with a grimace on his face.

Mia looked over at Mason and saw him looking down at the blood on his hand. She wasn't that worried about him, knowing that he was healing as he stood there.

"And I was _really_ looking forward to last call," he said, shaking his head in disappointment. He slowly stalked towards the vampire and stopped when they were face to face. "Now you've made enemies."

Damon's eyes flickered from his face, down to the wound on Mason's chest, to Mia who was glaring at him with nothing but hatred in her eyes. Mason turned around and walked over to the driver's seat and got in his car, Mia following suit.

"_Vampires,_" Mason hissed before putting the truck in reverse, pulling out of the alley between the Grill and Town Hall.

_**No Salvation**_

Walking into the house, Mia brushed past Mason and headed for the kitchen. Her head was buzzing from the three bottles of alcohol and numerous shots she had consumed during the barbecue. Her throat hurt; she was in desperate need of Advil and coffee.

When she reached the kitchen, Mia went over to the medicine cabinet near the coffee mugs and grabbed the bottle of Advil and a blue coffee mug. She turned the Keurig machine on and placed her cup under the dispenser. She waited for the cup to fill with coffee before popping two liquid capsules into her mouth, following them with a sip of her coffee.

"Mia," the shrewd voice of Carol Lockwood sounded behind her.

"Carol," Mia responded in a voice just as icy.

"A boy has been calling here for the past two hours," she said, placing both her hands on her hips. "It's an inconvenience."

Mia mentally cursed at Owen. Didn't she get her message through already? Did he really need her to go and physically show him how serious she was about leaving her alone? The Lockwood just narrowed her eyes at her step-mother and unleashed the words floating around in her head.

"Why don't you just come out and say it, Carol?" Mia spat. "My whole life is an _inconvenience _to you, isn't it? I am the one constant reminder that my father settled for you when my mother passed in that fire. We both know that if she was still alive, her and my father would have been married."

Not waiting for her response, Mia grabbed her coffee mug and walked out of the kitchen, leaving a stunned Carol in her wake. She silently seethed as she walked down the hallway, past her father's study and into the foyer where she turned for the stairs. Before she could make it half way up the steps, Mia heard yelling and a _thud_.

"_Tell me what triggers the curse!" _

"_You have to kill somebody," _Mason shouted.

Mia's blood froze. Mason just told her baby brother the darkest part about being a wolf. What would he think of her? Would he see her as a murderer?

"_Human blood. You take another person's life away from them, the curse is yours forever,"_ Mason yelled.

Mia turned around on the stairs and ran down the steps, placing her mug on the table in the foyer before dashing into the study to see Mason and Tyler standing face to face. The two turned to face her and Tyler's face held shock and Mason's held regret.

"What did you do?" Mia asked, looking at Mason.

"Mia, I…" Mason trailed off, not knowing how to defend himself.

The twenty-four year old shook her head and looked at him with disdain. "Mason, just—just go."

The oldest Lockwood looked at her for a moment before backing away from Tyler and walking out of the room slowly. When he was gone, Mia turned to Tyler and shook her head before sitting on the couch. She put her head in her hands and let out a frustrated sigh.

"I didn't want you to find out," Mia told him. "I knew that you would find out sooner or later but I secretly hoped that you wouldn't have to find out."

Tyler was silent for a couple seconds before she heard him shuffle. The cushion next to her sank under Tyler's weight and she felt one of his hands rub small circles into her back, just like she used to do for him when he was a child.

"You're not a monster, Mia," Tyler said before grabbing one of her hands from her face and placing a cool, smooth object in her palm. Mia looked down at the tiny object in her hand and gaped down at the rock.

"The moonstone?" Mia asked in disbelief.

"I found it a couple nights ago after Mason asked about it," he told her.

Mia just stared down at the milky moonstone and rubbed her thumb over the smooth surface. What would Mason want with a stone used in jewelry?

Pushing himself off of the couch, Tyler started to walk out of the study. Mia looked up at her brother and stood up, calling out his name, making him turn around to face her.

"Wait," she said, turning around, walking to her father's desk where she pulled open up a drawer, pulling out all the papers. Tyler walked over to her and watched as she slid her hand over the smooth wood on the bottom of the drawer until her finger found the little divot. Mia pulled back on the small bump and the bottom of the drawer popped out, revealing a box underneath. She pulled the box out and quickly opened it, revealing a stone that was identical to the moonstone in her right hand. Slipping the real moonstone into her pocket, Mia handed her brother the fake one. "When the time is right, give Mason this fake one, okay?"

Tyler examined the stone before looking up at his sister. "Why?"

"There is something about this stone that Mason hasn't told you," she said. "This moonstone could stop us from turning every full moon."

"Then why don't we just give it to Mason so he can use it?"

"He isn't going to use the stone for the right reason," Mia told him. "I'm going to make sure that it goes into the hands of someone who will use it correctly."

Tyler nodded his head and slipped the fake moonstone into his pocket before walking out of the room, towards the kitchen. Mia walked over to the French doors of the study and closed them gently before scurrying over to the bookshelf where she looked for _The Great Gatsby _quickly. Finding the beat up book, she pulled it out and opened it, placing the moonstone in the hollowed out book. Slipping the book back into place, Mia moved away from the bookshelf and walked out of the study, grabbing her cup of coffee on the table. Looking around to make sure no one saw her, Mia slipped up the stairs and into her room, closing the door behind her.


	5. Kill or Be Killed

**Kill or Be Killed**

Strolling around the grass, Mia looked around the clearing that would soon be a new park. There were people bustling around everywhere, chatting, planting trees and flowers, or building something out of wood. Since Mia was only helping with the food today, she wasn't wearing jeans and an old t-shirt like everyone else. She wore a white tank top with navy blue stripes and salmon jean shorts with brown gladiator shoes. She didn't have to report to the food tables until an hour before lunch. All she had to do was set up the food and make sure there were enough plates, napkins, utensils, and cups for everyone.

"This is part of the Historical Society's continuing efforts to give back to the community," Carol's voice came from the loud speakers, making Mia turn to face her step-mother. Carol was dressed in a cream dress and nude pumps. _How apt for a day like today, Carol,_ her subconscious jeered. "Thanks to the generous donation of the Fell family we are now standing on the site of our newest public park." There was a soft applause, thanking the Fell family for their contribution. "Thank you to everyone who has shown up today to lend a helping hand. Thanks." Once more, there was another round of applause.

A couple pictures were taken of the crowd and of Carol, probably for the newspaper that no one reads. Watching Carol step down from the podium, Mia silently cursed under her breath when she saw her coming towards her. Not wanting to speak to her, Mia turned on her heel and walked over to the picnic tables sheltered by the awning, where the food was being brought in. She walked to the back of the awning and rounded a table, organizing the cups, utensils, plates, and napkins. She looked up and didn't see Carol following her and let out a sigh of relief.

"Everything okay?" the familiar voice of Liz Forbes asked form behind her.

Mia looked up at the Sheriff and gave her a quick smile nodding her head.

"Yeah," she breathed out. "Everything's fine."

"I'm sorry about your father," Liz told her with an apologetic smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, too," Mia said.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm doing well," Mia responded to her question. "You know, good days, bad days."

Liz nodded her head and reached out, giving Mia's bicep a little squeeze. "Your father was a great man."

"He was, but he had his moments like the rest of us," Mia added with a sad smile on her face, thinking of her father. His smile popped up in her brain and she pushed it to the back of her mind, not wanting to become misty eyed in front of Liz.

Realizing that with Liz, one of the head members of the Council with her, Mia took her chance to pay Damon Salvatore back for hurting someone in her family. If he wanted to play dirty, then so would she.

"He would always tell me the most vivid bedtime stories about creatures. One day, I overheard him talking to Carol about a Council and the creatures they hunt. I couldn't have been any older than fourteen or fifteen."

Mia looked up at Liz and saw dread flash across her face and she knew that she had caught Liz. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"That's the thing," Mia said quietly, making sure only Liz could hear her. "I think you do, Liz. I know you do. This town is infested with those creatures. I've seen one."

"Mia," Liz said with a small gasp. She looked around and motioned Mia to step back a bit with her so they would be somewhat separated from the others under the awning as well. "What did you see?"

"I saw Damon Salvatore. He wears a much different face than you would think. I saw him with these eyes that were so dark. He had these veins protruding from under his eyes and these fangs extended out of his gums. There was blood all over his face," Mia told her.

In all honesty, Mia had never seen Damon look like the demon he was. She was describing what she saw Caroline look like before she tried to attack her, but Liz didn't need to know that. Mia didn't want anyone but Damon to go down. No one attacked her family and got away with it.

"That's impossible," Liz said. "He can't be a vampire – he walks during the day."

"I don't know how to explain it, but I know what I saw," she told her.

"No," the Sheriff said, shaking her head. "Damon is my friend. He can't be. He has killed vampires."

"I just thought I should tell you," Mia said, looking at Liz cautiously. If she didn't believe her, then her whole plan was screwed. She needed Liz to believe her but she wasn't going to force it. Having nothing more to say, Mia left, leaving Liz with a shred of doubt in her mind.

_**No Salvation**_

Feeling a hand clamp down on her elbow, Mia turned her head to see Carol smiling down sweetly at her. Carol gave her arm a sharp pull, making Mia fall back with her. The young Lockwood girl narrowed her eyes at the new appointed mayor. She didn't want to speak with Carol.

"We need to speak about this 'indefinite' amount of time that you're spending at _my _house," Carol hissed. "I'm going to need an exact date."

"Well, I don't know when I'm going to leave," Mia answered. "I lost my dad and so did my brother. Do you want to be the one responsible for sending his _sister _away?"

"So that's it, then?" Carol asked, going around Mia's question. "You're just going to stay however long you want to? What do you think my house is? A hotel?"

"Do you have a problem with me staying, Carol?" Mia snapped. She was quickly losing a hold on her temper and if the conversation didn't stop within the next thirty seconds, Mia would lose all self-control. "If you do, please, tell me."

Carol didn't answer the twenty-four year old's unspoken challenge. Instead, she just gave Mia a look that told her exactly how she felt. Mia was about to lash out a Carol when a panicked Elena Gilbert came up to her, clasping her arm, looking at her with pleading eyes.

"Carol," Mia said with an undercurrent of venom before leaving with the distressed teenager. Once the two were far enough away from prying ears, Elena turned to the older girl.

"Mia, you have to help," Elena said in a rushed whisper.

"What's going on?" she asked, wondering why the Gilbert girl was so stressed and running to her for help.

"It's Stefan and Damon," she said, panicked. "Sheriff Forbes has them in the old Lockwood Cellar. She's going to kill them. You have to help me."

"Why me?" Mia asked.

"Because I know what you are," Elena said. "Please, Mia. You can't just let them die!"

"Elena, if you know what I am, you should know that I don't help creatures like them," she pointed out. Though she didn't want Stefan to get hurt, she was still debating whether she should help or not. They were _vampires _after all.

"Please," Elena begged, the stress, panic, and horror mixed in her voice. "Mia, please. They don't deserve this. They're good people."

Mia looked down at the teenager in front of her and something snapped inside of her. Mia owed Elena this for past mistakes. She owed the girl in front of her so much more than this little favor and she would continue to help her to make up for her wrong doings. With a sigh, Mia shook her head.

"Fine. I'll help them," she agreed. "But only for your sake."

"Thank you so much," Elena said, giving her arm a squeeze. "Come on." Without letting go of Mia's arm, the Gilbert girl pulled her up the hill and into the woods, where they darted around trees and rocks. Due to her wolf senses, Mia could smell the blood on the leaves beneath their feet. Her gut churned at the smell but she pushed forward with the human and they soon reached the old Lockwood Cellar. Mia went ahead of Elena and pried the heavy wooden door open and pushed the wrought iron gate open, stopping in her tracks.

On the floor in front of her were two vampires with bullet holes in their chests. Elena rushed up behind her and over to Stefan, taking his hands in her face. Mia looked up and saw Liz Forbes in one of the iron cells with Caroline standing to the side of it, blood covering her face. Mia cringed, remembering the last time she saw the Forbes girl.

"Mia, we have to get them out of here," Elena said.

The Lockwood nodded her head and walked over to her slowly before bending down, looking at the holes in both their chests. "The bullets are still in their chests; we have to take them out before moving them."

Elena nodded and paled, realizing that one of them would have to dig inside of them and pull out the wooden bullets. Mia saw that she didn't want to and volunteered to get the bullets out for them. Kneeling next to Stefan, Mia looked up at Elena and told her to step back in case the unconscious vampire were to wake and lash out from the pain. Elena reluctantly took a step back and Mia took a deep breath before tearing the sweater on his chest open, exposing three bullet holes; one near his sternum and two on either sides of his abdomen. Mia took her lower lip into her mouth and took another deep breath before bracing one hand on his left pectoral while the other one slowly dug into the bullet hole, searching for the wooden bullet.

The second her fingers were under his skin, the vampire shot up and yelled out in pain, throwing Mia off of him. He fell back down after a moment and the werewolf crawled back over, looking down at the vampire who was gritting his teeth.

"Stefan, I have to take the bullets out," she told him. "I'm going to do it quickly, but you need to relax and stay still, okay?"

The youngest Salvatore looked up at her and nodded his head, clenching his jaw. He was bracing himself for the pain. Mia moved her hands back to their original positions and dug into his skin once more, locating the bullet, pulling it out cleanly, tossing it to the side. Stefan was panting underneath her and she could see the pain etched on his face.

Mia moved down to the left side of his abdomen and quickly pulled the bullet out since it was right at the surface. Stefan grunted in pain and Mia moved to the other side of him. She cursed under her breath seeing that the skin was slowly starting to close.

"Stefan, this is going to hurt," Mia warned him before she took both her hands and pried the skin open. A tortured cry ripped its way out of Stefan's throat and echoed throughout the cellar while Mia dug around for the bullet. She didn't feel it anywhere. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her fingers further down and after a couple seconds, she grazed the bullet with her fingertips. She grasped the bullet and pulled it out quickly. Stefan writhed underneath her and she threw the bullet behind her. She looked down at the younger Salvatore and gave his chest a pat.

"It's all done," she told him. Looking down at his wounds, she could see them slowly closing. His sweatshirt was shredded and she gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry about your sweatshirt."

He gave her a small smile and then she moved away from him, letting Elena come and hold him close. Stefan clung to her and Mia looked away from the intimate moment, turning to the oldest Salvatore. With much reluctance, she knelt down beside him and looked down at him.

"Are you just going to stare or are you going to take the bullets out, mutt?" the conscious vampire asked her.

A merciless smile spread across her face as she peered down at him. Grabbing the collar of his dress shirt, Mia tore the shirt off, making the buttons fly around the room.

"Let me get these pesky bullets out for you, _leech_," Mia sneered before ripping into the bullet hole in the center of his chest.

The vampire yelled out in pain as she messily moved her hand about under his skin, searching for the bullet. She wasn't going to go easy on him. He did try to kill her uncle after all. After a moment, she found the bullet and pulled it out, making Damon groan. Mia moved down to his legs where a bullet was lodged above each kneecap. Grabbing the denim material around his wound, Mia ripped it off, leaving a hole in the vampire's jeans. Prying the skin around the bullet away, Mia pulled it out quickly and moved to the other leg, repeating the process.

"It might hurt for a while," she told him, watching him roll his ice blue eyes at her.

"No shit," he hissed.

Mia sat up on her feet, crouching over Damon. Looking him square in the eye, she spoke. "Consider this both a payment and a favor." The vampire curled his lip over his teeth and growled at her. "Don't cross me or my family again or the consequences will be worse."

Pushing herself up off of the floor, Mia turns to Elena who is holding Stefan still and clears her throat, gaining the two lovers' attention. "Elena, why don't you take Stefan to my house and clean him up while I take care of Caroline?"

"Mia, I don't think that smart," Elena advised. "She's just recently turned. I don't want you getting hurt."

"Elena, I'll be fine. I'm not leaving her alone like this. Just go," she said. "I'll meet you both back at my house. There's a key under the arm of the rocking chair."

Elena looked between the blonde vampire in the corner and Mia before nodding her head slowly, helping Stefan up off of the floor. The two hobbled out of the cellar, leaving Mia alone with two vampires and a frazzled deputy. Mia slowly walked over to Caroline and reached a hand out for her. As much as she just wanted to leave with Elena and Stefan, she knew she couldn't leave her brother's friend – the girl she babysat for years – alone like this.

"No," Caroline whispered. "You heard Elena, I'm recently turned and I don't have much control."

"Caroline," Mia said, shaking her head. "I heard Elena but that doesn't mean I'm going to listen to her. I trust you. I know you wouldn't hurt me." Mia hoped the boost of confidence would help Caroline overcome the urge to feed on her. She didn't know how long it took a vampire to gather self-control but she hoped Caroline would be strong enough.

The blonde teenager looked down at her hand and took a breath before holding her hand out, clasping Mia's. Mia gave her an encouraging smile before helping her up from the ground and pulling her under her arm, trying to stop her shaking. The vampire tensed but soon relaxed into Mia's side. Seeing how broken Caroline was, Mia looked past the demonic side of her and felt her heart swell for the teenager. She may be a vampire, but she was still the same Caroline that she had known her whole life.

Mia turned to Damon who was watching them with narrowed eyes and Mia returned the expression. She looked back at Liz and then to Damon. "Will you take care of this, or am I going to have to?"

"I'll take care of it," Damon said with a bit of anger in his voice. "She is my friend after all."

"Don't kill her," Caroline squeaked by Mia's side.

"I won't," Damon said to her, giving her the quickest reassuring glance that he could give.

Mia gave Caroline a small squeeze and the two girls made their way out of the cellar, walking up the stairs, towards Mia's house. As they walked through the forest, Mia held Caroline who started to shake in her arms.

"My mom hates me, Mia," she sobbed.

"Shh," the older girl soothed. "Caroline, she doesn't hate you. She's just confused."

"I'm a monster," Caroline argued. "Of course she hates me."

"Caroline Forbes, you are not a monster," she told her. "You are a strong girl who is being forced to face a hard task. And you are doing amazing, given the circumstances."

"How can you say that?" the teenager asked her. "I tried to kill you that night at the carnival."

"That wasn't you," Mia said. "That was the bloodlust and I know the real you. The Caroline that would put others in front of herself – I know that she wouldn't hurt me or anyone she cared about."

Caroline stopped walking and so did Mia. She looked down at the girl under her arm and saw her looking up at her with big blue eyes. "Why are you helping me? You're a werewolf and I'm a vampire."

"That doesn't matter. Those are the monsters inside of us, not the people we are," Mia told her. "I'm helping the little girl that I used to take care of and the girl that I've watched grow up into a bright young woman."

Caroline gave her a smile with misty eyes and Mia just gave her a squeeze before ushering the girl forward. When they reached the tree line, the two girls stopped, seeing Stefan and Elena standing there.

"Why are you waiting here?" Mia asked them.

"Your brother is in the house with Jeremy and two girls. I couldn't bring Stefan in and risk getting caught," Elena explained, looking at Mia's neck and not her eyes. Mia resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

"I'll go and move them out of the way," Mia said, taking her arm from Caroline's shoulders. "I'll be right back." The three teenagers nodded their heads and Mia walked out of the tree line, heading for the mansion.

Barging through the front doors, Mia walked into the parlor where her brother, Elena's brother, and two girls stood over the table that held all the liquor. Their four heads snapped up to see her and she hitched her thumb towards the stairs.

"Time to move the party," Mia told them.

The two girls scurried out of the room and Jeremy followed after them, strolling towards the staircase, heading up after the girls.

"Why are you kicking us out of here?" Tyler asked her.

Mia racked her brain for an answer. She couldn't come out and tell him that she had to have the house to herself so she and another human could clean up two vampires.

"Carol is coming home soon," she told him. "I don't want you to get caught drinking. Just take it upstairs in your room, Ty."

It wasn't a complete lie; Carol would be home in about an hour and a half. That should give her and Elena enough time to clean up the two other teenagers.

Tyler nodded his head, believing her and walked past her after thanking her for the heads up. Mia let out a sigh of relief and waited for the teenagers to leave the first floor before she darted out the back door and over to the tree line where she left the three teenagers. When she reached them, she ushered them forward. Elena helped Stefan walk while Mia and Caroline walked side by side.

"I moved them upstairs. We have to be quiet," Mia told them as they walked into the house. Mia guided them to the bathroom that branched off of her father's study and shut the door behind them, locking it. The bathroom was the size of a normal bedroom and had a bathtub, shower, and vanity inside, along with a toilet and sink. Mia pulled a towel out from under the sink and handed it to Elena before getting one for herself. Turning the water on, Mia stuck the towel under the faucet and walked over to Caroline who was sitting on the rim of the tub and gently started to scrub the blood off of her chin. The blonde haired girl gave Mia a small smile which she returned.

After a couple of minutes, all the blood was gone from Caroline's face and she looked good as new. Caroline walked over to the mirror to look at her reflection and then walked over to Mia, giving her a hug. The older Lockwood wrapped her arms around the teenager and returned the squeeze.

"Thank you for helping me, Mia," she whispered in her ear.

Mia pulled away from the hug and gave Caroline a smile "It's no problem Caroline."

The two girls turned to face Elena and Stefan who had finished cleaning the vampire up and Mia took the bloodstained towel from Elena. Stefan stood up with ease and gave Mia a smile.

"Thank you," Stefan said. "For saving me and my brother. I know you and Damon aren't on the best of terms."

Mia nodded her head and gave him a smile. "Don't mention it."

Unlocking the bathroom door, Mia let Caroline, Stefan, and Elena out. They were all headed back to the Salvatore house to go see what they would do with Liz. Caroline had promised to keep Mia updated after thanking her once more.

_**No Salvation**_

There was a knock on her bedroom door before the door opened to reveal Tyler. Mia smiled up at him and set her book to the side, patting the bed next to her. Tyler sat down next to her and gave her a smile.

"Mason left to go stay in a hotel for a while. But before he left, I gave him the fake moonstone," he said.

Mia nodded her head. "That's good. It'll keep him at bay for a while until he finds out it's a fake."

"How long will that take?" Tyler asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "It depends on what he has planned."

Her brother nodded his head and looked down at his hands, furrowing his eyebrows. Mia looked at her brother, wondering what he was thinking about.

"What's wrong?"

"I almost killed a girl today," he said, fiddling with his thumbs.

"What?" Mia asked, shocked.

"She was drunk and she took the fake moonstone. I had to get it back from her and she ran up the stairs. I followed after her and when I took the moonstone from her hands, she fell down the stairs. She didn't move at first and I thought I killed her."

"Oh, Tyler," Mia said, grateful that it didn't activate the curse.

Tyler shook his head and got off of the bed.

"I just thought I should tell you," he mumbled before walking out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Mia sagged back in her bed and stared up at the ceiling. What would happen if he _had _triggered the curse?

She didn't want to think about it. She was so glad and fortunate that he didn't. Had she been religious, she would have gotten down on her knees and thanked the God above for having mercy on her brother. But she knew that in a world like this, there was no such thing as a God. If there was, he hadn't done anything for her. Her life was one big mess and there was no fixing it.

Picking up the book, Mia returned to her spot, pushing all thoughts out of her head. She needed to relax after the stressful day and reading was one way to escape the harsh reality that was her life.


	6. Plan B

**Plan B**

"Thank you for coming, Mia," Caroline said as she wrapped her arms around the Lockwood girl. Mia returned the hug and pulled away, giving her a smile.

"Hey, anything to get out of helping Carol with the preparations," she teased. The blonde teenager let out a giggle and Mia relaxed a little bit. She trusted Caroline, but she was still a monster at bay just like she was. Mia had started taking vervain daily so no vampire could compel her or attack her. In a town like this – where vampires and werewolves ran amuck – no one could be too cautious.

Caroline walked with Mia down the hall to a door that opened to a set of descending stairs. Caroline went down and Mia followed after her. Looking at the girl in front of her, Mia could see Caroline tense and she felt bad for her. No one should have to walk on egg shells around their mother.

Mia thought back to two nights ago when Liz had spent her first night here. Caroline had called in the middle of the night crying to Mia over the phone. Caroline told her she had no one to talk to since she broke up with Matt, Elena was upset with her, Tyler didn't know what was going on, and Bonnie wouldn't talk to her. The distraught vampire begged Mia to come over and Mia reluctantly answered the teenager's wish. She had no one after all and it was Caroline Forbes – Mia's favorite out of all of Tyler's friends; though she would deny she had any favorites if someone asked.

When Mia had finally found the Salvatores' house, she soothed Caroline the only way she knew how; by bringing Krispy Kreme Donuts over. The two girls finished the box together and talked about pointless things, distracting Caroline from thoughts of her mother hating her. Ever since that night, Mia has been continuously checking up on the seventeen year old who was staying at the Salvatores' until her mother could return home with her memory wiped of what exactly went on at the picnic.

Returning the present, Mia gave Caroline a smile as she opened the door to the room of the basement that Liz was being held captive in. The two girls walked through the doorway and watched as Caroline's mother sat up on the cot. She cast her eyes away from the two girls and clasped her hands together.

"You didn't eat much," Caroline said, making Mia look down at the tray of food.

Sure enough, there was only two bites taken out of the chicken Mia had made the night before. The green beans were untouched along with the salad. Mia frowned and looked back over at Liz.

Caroline fidgeted a bit next to Mia and then spoke up.

"Good news," she said in a cheerful voice. "Doctor Damon said the vervain is almost out of your system. So with any luck, you'll be freshly compelled and back in your own bed by tonight."

Caroline looked over a Mia who gave her an encouraging smile. She knew that Caroline needed to do this for her mother and she was only there for moral support and as a buffer in case things went south. Mia and Caroline looked over at her mother and both girls frowned, seeing that Liz wasn't acknowledging them.

"Are you really just gonna pretend like I don't exist?" Caroline asked in a voice that sounded like she was frustrated. Mia knew it was a façade. The teenager next to her was upset that her mother wouldn't look at her, say something, or at least eat some food.

Liz finally looked up at her daughter and her eyes were cold. "Yes. So please go."

Caroline froze and shifted from foot to foot next to her and then let out a scoff. She bent down and grabbed the tray of food from the chair across from the cot. "As usual, you don't care. Got it," she huffed. She turned on her heel and shook her head. "Just like before I was a vampire."

"Caroline," Mia chastised, giving her a scornful look.

"It's not like I died or anything," Caroline added, ignoring Mia's warning. She pulled the door open once more and stopped when her mother spoke.

"Are you…" she trailed off. Confusion, horror, and discomfort flashed across Liz Forbes's face. "Are you _really _dead?"

Caroline looked from her mother, to Mia, and then back to her mother. "Yes and no."

"How is it possible?"

Taking this as a good sign that she would hear her daughter out, Mia gave Caroline an encouraging smile before giving her a cautious look. She took the tray of food from the teenager and walked out of the cell, leaving the two Forbes women alone to talk.

Mia climbed up the stairs and headed for the kitchen where she looked through the scarcely stocked pantry and refrigerator for food that Liz could eat if she got hungry in the next couple of hours. There was nothing but a grapefruit in the refrigerator and a couple of stale saltines in the pantry. Mia didn't expect much more from a house where vampires lived. When she had to prepare meals for Liz, Mia had to bring food from the store over to the house. She was just glad she didn't see any blood bags in the refrigerator.

After clearing the food from the tray and putting it in the trash, Mia put the dishes in the sink. She opened one of the cupboards and got a plate out. Setting it on the island, Mia grabbed a knife from the knife block and pulled a spoon out of the silverware drawer. The werewolf was surprised that they even had silverware considering they were vampires. Turning back to the island, Mia set the grapefruit on the plate and cut it in half. She was careful not to cut herself as she put the knife in the sink with the other dishes. Turning back to the island, she pulled open one of the drawers and found a salt shaker and a packet of sugar. Not knowing what one Liz would want, Mia put both on the plate.

Grabbing the plate carefully, she walked back down to the basement and knocked on the heavy door before pushing it open. She gave Liz and Caroline a smile before setting the grapefruit down on the other end of the cot that Liz was sitting on.

"I'm going to go now," Mia told Caroline. "I promised Tyler that I'd pick him and Matt up for lunch and take them to the dinner at the edge of town."

Caroline nodded her head and Mia gave her shoulder a squeeze before leaving the teenager with her mother once more.

_**No Salvation**_

After dropping Tyler and Matt back at the house so they could finish decorating, Mia parked her car in the driveway and quickly made her way into the forest so she wouldn't be seen by Carol and end up getting roped into doing some ridiculous task for this stupid masquerade party.

She had nowhere else to go so Mia decided to take a walk in the woods to pass the time. She kicked rocks with her feet and ran her fingertips over every tree she passed. The forest was soothing to Mia. She had always loved nature and spent a lot of time outside when she was young. It all stopped though when she was sucked into high school and college. She had to focus more on her studies than she liked, but it was necessary. After the night she triggered the curse, Mia escaped to San Francisco and she lived in the city. There wasn't much nature to explore. She only turned in the woods once but then after having a bad experience, she bought herself a storage locker that she shifted in every full moon.

Shouting pulled Mia out of her thoughts and into the present. She froze in her spot and pushed her hair behind her ear, focusing on the sound she heard. She heard the shouting again and took off running towards the noise. The shouts continued as she pressed forward and found herself at the edge of the property, by the old well.

Around the old well, she saw Stefan on the ground with burn marks all over his skin and Bonnie hovering over him. Caroline was above the well, pulling a chain. Mia didn't think as she dashed over to the unconscious Salvatore.

"Mia?" Bonnie asked surprised.

"What is going on? What's wrong?" the Lockwood girl asked as she bent down to examine Stefan. His eyes were closed and he wasn't breathing. "Is he dead?"

"No," the voice of Elena broke out from behind her. Mia turned to see her climb out of the well as Caroline held the chain tightly. Elena collapsed on the ground next to Stefan and tossed a light brown box with a weight attached to it away from her. Mia moved out of the way and let Elena take care of Stefan while she asked Bonnie and Caroline what was going on.

"We were trying to get something out of the well and Stefan went down first but the well is filled with vervain," Caroline explained.

"What is at the bottom of a well that you need bad enough to jump down to get?" Mia asked.

Bonnie and Caroline exchanged looks of wary and then turned to Elena and a now conscious Stefan who was slowly healing. The three girls looked at each other and then looked at Mia. Elena nodded her head and Bonnie spoke up.

"A moonstone."

Mia's blood turned to ice. _These kids know about the moonstone? Do they know I have the real one and they just put themselves at risk to retrieve a fake moonstone? _Her subconscious was biting her nails and guilt was on her face.

"What's so special about the stone?" Mia asked, trying to play the oblivious card.

Caroline looked down at Elena and the two had a private conversation with their eyes and then Elena looked up at Mia who was standing beside Bonnie.

"There's a curse that can be broken with that moonstone," she explained. Mia froze. They knew about the curse. How was it that these teenagers were so wrapped up in a world that wasn't meant for them?

She wouldn't tell them where the actual stone was, but she was still shocked that they would go to large lengths to get the stone.

Mia just nodded her head at Elena's explanation, understanding that was all she was going to get. Little did they know, Mia already knew about the sun and the moon curse.

"We have to get Stefan out of here and back to the Boarding House," Elena said after looking down at her boyfriend. The other three girls nodded their heads in agreement. They helped the vampire up and Elena wrapped an arm around his waist, guiding him back to civilization. The two took a couple steps before Elena froze and turned to face Mia.

Already understanding what she was going to say, Mia gave her a reassuring smile. "Your rendezvous is safe with me."

"Thank you," she said with a small smile before her and Stefan left.

Bonnie gave Mia a thankful smile while Caroline gave her a squeeze of gratitude. Mia returned the hug and smile and watched as the two teenagers left, following the path Elena and Stefan took. Turning to look at the well, Mia walked over to the age and looked over the edge. The heavy scent of vervain flooded her nostrils and she immediately knew this is where Mason hid the moonstone that Tyler had given him.

Mia took a step back and ran a hand through her hair. If the teenage gang knew about the moonstone, would they use it to try and break the curse? How long would it be until they found out that it was fake? She desperately wanted to go and check to see if the moonstone was in the hollowed out book, but there were too many people back at the house and she would be noticed if she snuck into her father's study.

She would have to wait until later in the night to check on the stone.

_**No Salvation**_

Mia and Tyler Lockwood found themselves in a booth at the Mystic Grill, eating burgers and picking at the fires that were in a basket in the middle of the table. The two had been at the Grill playing pool and throwing darts for the past two hours and they decided to have something for dinner.

"So, how was setting up?" Mia asked him after she swallowed the food in her mouth.

"Boring," he said to quickly. "Mom freaked over _everything_. And I do mean everything. She said it had to be perfect because this was Dad's favorite party of the year."

"He did love the masquerade party," Mia commented with a nostalgic gleam in her eyes. She pushed the thoughts of her father to the back of her mind before she could get torn up over it all.

The two ate their food in silence for a couple more minutes, mauling over thoughts of their father and looking at the other, making sure they weren't going to get upset.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," Tyler said, breaking the silence between the siblings. Mia just nodded her head and took a sip of her water as she watched her brother leave the booth and head to the bathroom.

Not a second after her brother disappeared around the corner to use the restroom, two men slid into the booth across from Mia. She furrowed her brow and looked at the two men in front of her. The older of the two looked to be in his mid-thirties. He had a dark skin complexion, low cheek bones, a narrow jaw line, and dark eyes that were deadly serious. Mia's eyes flickered over to the other man and she quickly realized he could be no older than seventeen. He had a slightly lighter complexion than the man next to him. The boy had high cheek bones and deep set, brown eyes. He shared small similarities with the man next to him and Mia made the connection that they were father and son.

"Can I help you?" she asked slowly and cautiously.

"I'm Jonas Martin and this is my son Luka," the man in front of her said.

She nodded her head slowly, not knowing what was going on. "I'm—"

"Mia Lockwood," Jonas cut in, making Mia furrow her brow once more. How did this man know who she was? "You have something that we need."

"And that would be?" she prompted, trying to evaluate them. She didn't know if they were a potential threat or not. So far, she was leaning towards them being a threat.

"The moonstone," Luka spoke up next to his father.

Mia momentarily froze. _Definitely a threat,_ her subconscious screamed inside of her head. She gathered her wits quickly.

"A moonstone?" she feigned ignorance. "Can't you just buy one in a jewelry store?"

Jonas narrowed his eyes at the werewolf while Luka just quietly chuckled.

"Don't be coy with me, little girl," the father hissed, leaning forward on the table so he was closer to Mia who watched him with skeptical eyes. "That moonstone isn't something to play with."

Mia just remained quiet and watched the man who was in front of her. She didn't like him. He was too aggressive and hostile. Even if she were to tell him that she had the moonstone, she wouldn't give it to him. She wasn't going to give the stone to someone she barely knew, much less trusted. She trusted Mason more than she trusted this man.

"We need that moonstone," the teenager pushed. "Please, just give it to us."

She turned her gaze over to the boy and shook her head. "No."

"If you don't give us the moonstone, your brother won't need to worry about killing to activate his curse," Jonas hissed.

Mia's blood boiled and she realized what these two men were. They were witches – and hostile ones at that. She had heard stories of witches activating werewolves' curses just for crossing them. She gripped the table to stop from reaching across to strangle the witch and leaned forward to snap back at him.

"If I were to have given you the moonstone, you would have shot your chance to hell with that threat. No one, and I mean _no one, _threatens my family and gets away with it. I don't take too kindly to demands. You should know that about werewolves," Mia spat. "You're lucky there are people in this establishment, because if there weren't I would jump across this table and tear your throat out."

The older witch paled a bit at her threat and the teenager froze and stared at her with eyes filled with horror. She was glad that she seemed to get her point across to the witches.

"Is everything okay?" Tyler asked, breaking the tension at the table. Mia turned to her brother and the tension left her body upon seeing him. She gave him a smile and nodded her head before sliding out of the booth, grabbing her purse.

"We were just finishing our conversation," she told him, dismissing the whole situation. "Let's get going. It's pretty late."

Without letting him argue, Mia grabbed Tyler's bicep and pulled him towards the exit with her. She turned her head to look over her shoulder, glaring at the two witches, enforcing her point of crossing her.

"But we didn't even pay," Tyler said.

"They aren't going to yell at two kids who just lost their father – who happened to be the mayor," she pointed out.

The two hopped into Tyler's car and headed back to the mansion with Mia fuming in the driver's seat and Tyler watching her closely in the passenger seat.

Those witches better watch themselves if they ever crossed paths again.


End file.
